The world market for industrial valves will grow from $44 billion this year to $52 billion in 2015. This is the latest forecast in “Industrial Valves: World Markets,” published by the McIlvaine Co.
The biggest growth will be in power and wastewater in East Asia. The West Asian market will grow by 50% during the period. The market in Western Europe will only grow by 6% during the period.
Control valves are the leading product segment. There is increasing demand for “smart valves” which can communicate conditional and operational information remotely. The nuclear industry has again become a growth market for valve suppliers. The newest reactor designs use fewer valves than existing ones. However, the life extension programs at existing nuclear plants provide a substantial revenue stream.
Some markets are growing while others are shrinking. Valves for regasification facilities in the U.S. were a big potential a few years ago. Now the potential lies in gas shale. Many valves are required during the shale fracturing and gas extraction phases.
Asia is the dominant market for valves used in semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturing. It is also the big market for valves for new cement plants. However, there is a big retrofit potential at existing U.S. cement plants. These plants need to comply with a new air toxic rule. This will result in purchases of knife gate valves for scrubber systems, control valves for pulsing new fabric filters, and rotary valves for new pneumatic conveying equipment.
The large number of new coal-fired power plants planned in Asia will drive the market for valves used with super critical coal-fired boilers. China is also leading the development of coal-to-liquids. At one time the Sasol coal-to-liquids plant in South Africa with 180,000 valves was the leading user of valves in the world.
Carbon sequestration is at the development stage but even now there is a substantial valve market. Valve purchases for the billion-dollar plant demonstrating Oxyfuel combustion in Illinois will need to begin within the year. Valves for the Saskpower project could be ordered as early as January 2011.
The valve market is served by 37 global suppliers with more than $100 million in valve sales and by 7,000 smaller companies. The top four suppliers enjoy valve sales over $1 billion each. There are only eight suppliers with valve sales in excess of $500 million.
Source: McIlvaine Co.
