Forecast for U.S. Valve Industry: No Growth Expected

According to the annual forecast of the Valve Manufacturers Association (VMA),U.S. industrial valve shipments are predicted to have almost no growth in 2016. The indicates shipments forecast by VMA will be up just $3 million over 2015 to be about $4.5 billion total.

VMA President Bill Sandler said “Our industry crested in 2008 at about $4 billion before taking a tumble from the recession. We’ve been slowly gaining ground ever since, but this is the first year we’re predicting little to no growth.” .

“One of the reasons for the flatness from 2014 to 2015 is that the petroleum and power industries have encountered significant downturns, which affects our overall numbers,” he adds.

Meanwhile, the two that have the greatest market share are expected to gain even more next year:Chemical now makes up 18.7% of the market (compared to last year’s 17.8%) and water/waste water holds 17.8% (compared to 16.9% in 2015) the above data from 15 end-user industries VMA tracks. Those industries are gaining ground over the next largest industry, power generation, which fell about 0.4% last year; petroleum production, which fell by 1.5%; and a few of the smaller industries related to oil. Petroleum refining, on the other hand, actually gained slightly to become about 11.1% of the industry (it was about 10.8% last year)

2. World demand to rise 4.3% annually through 2019

World demand for industrial valves is projected to climb 4.3% annually through 2019 to $98.5 billion. Market advances will be stimulated by growth in chemicals and electric power generation,and construction activity in a generally healthy economic environment. Ongoing efforts to expand water infrastructures in developing countries and maintain or waste water treatment and upgrade water and distribution systems in developed nations will also contribute to sales increases through 2019. Dollar gains will be boosted as well by greater use of "smart" valves and actuators and other better performing, higher priced items.

3. China to post strongest gains of any national market

Industrial valve market growth in developing parts of Asia, Central and South America, the Africa/ Mideast region,and Eastern Europe will outpace product demand in Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the US. China will post the strongest advances of any national market in value terms, accounting for 23% of all additional valve sales on a global basis. India is a smaller but still sizable valve market. It will register larger gains in percentage terms. Some smaller national markets are expected to record healthy sales increases as well. Gains in US valve demand will be bolstered by growth in business investment spending as economic conditions continue to improve. In Western Europe and Japan,product sales will also expand. However, market advances in these areas will lag those in most other parts of the world, limited by below average increases in process manufacturing output and associated fixed investment expenditures.