According to a new report by IMS Research, the world market for hydraulic components used in industrial applications grew 25% to reach $7.9 billion in 2010 as almost two thirds of revenues lost during the downturn in 2009 were recovered. This strong growth carried over into 2011, and the latest indications are that growth of 13% will ensure global revenues reach almost $9 billion by the end of the year, representing a return to 2008 levels. However, whilst overall revenues may have returned to familiar levels, the proportion of the market accounted for by each major region continues to change significantly.
As of 2008, EMEA represented over 40% of the industrial market for hydraulic components, and was estimated to be $3.6bn, which was 10% ($895m) larger than Asia Pacific. However, after the 2009 market decline and subsequent recovery in 2010, the sustained momentum of Chinese industry had effectively offset the 40% contractions seen in Japan so that Asia-Pacific accounted for almost 35% of global revenues. This represented a market share increase of almost 5% in two years.
Principal analyst, Robert Carter, added: “Current indications are that the market for industrial hydraulic components in Asia is set to exceed that of EMEA in 2014, at which point Asia-Pacific will be the largest market, exceeding $3.9billion.”
The research company also noted that Asia-Pacific is poised to become the largest regional market for geared products by 2014, and possibly sooner if the anemic growth of the EMEA market persists in 2012.
The Gearboxes and Geared Motors report predicts that almost two thirds of the growth is expected to come from the Asia-Pacific region, equating to almost $3 billion of revenue growth by 2015 in that region alone. Materials handling, mining, energy generation, and food/beverage/tobacco were found to be the largest application segments, together comprising over 50% of 2010 revenues.
However, the European and North American suppliers may not be able to benefit from this growth because during the 2008-2009 recession many de-emphasised the emerging markets to focus on core domestic business. The majority of suppliers completely exited the Japanese market, reporting no revenues in the country. Therefore, any projected growth in the coming 18 months is attributed to the local companies strengthening their positions in the Japanese market.
