Slurry pump sales GROWTH WILL help boost total
pump market to new heights
Sales of pumps in 2008 will exceed $32 billion up from $27 billion in 2005. One of the smaller but traditionally slow growth markets is now booming. Slurry pump sales will grow at more than 10 percent per year over the next few years. In fact, in some applications there will be shortages of larger sized pumps. Demand will exceed supply. These projections were just published in the online, continually updated Pumps: World Markets published by the McIlvaine Company.
In the U.S. and China there will be cumulative sales of slurry pumps for flue gas desulfurization of over $200 million in the next 36 months. This is a ten fold increase from the previous levels. Demand for large slurry pumps in the 20,000 gpm to 40,000 gpm range will also be high in the synfuels sector. The high price of oil is making tar sands and oil shale plants attractive.
Another growth area for the pump industry will be in pristine processing. Food, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical plant operators all need pumps with special materials of construction and designs which minimize the potential for contamination of the fluids being moved.
Asia is where both the pristine and slurry markets will grow the fastest. In the case of the pristine processing, China will have the largest growth rate but from a small base. However in the slurry segment, it will be the largest purchaser as well as the one with the largest growth rate.
Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan will lead the way in pristine processing. The semiconductor sector in Japan has rebounded and investment in new chip plants is at a high level.
Municipal water supply and wastewater treatment are other growth areas for pumps. China has hundreds of new wastewater treatment plants under construction. Other Asian countries are also investing in the infrastructure necessary to provide clean drinking water and sanitation to billions of people who do not now have that access.
There is a rapid trend toward pump manufacture by European and American companies in China. Over the next ten years China will not only become the largest pump market, but also the largest supplier of pumps. However, McIlvaine predicts that international pump suppliers will take advantage of the Chinese predilection for western technology and more liberal regulations regarding long term leases of property to become established as local suppliers and exporters from China.
For more information on Pumps: World Markets, click on: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/water.html#N019 .
Bob McIlvaine