Outlook Of The Global Control Valve Market

In July 2008, David Clayton, a senior analyst at ARC Consulting Group, stated in the article "Control Valve Worldwide Outlook": Based on the rapid growth of the global control valve market in 2006 and 2007, it is predicted that the global control valve market will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 6% in the next five years. Based on the global control valve market sales of US$4.8 billion in 2007, the global control valve market is expected to exceed US$6.4 billion by 2012.
Since 2008, China, India and the Middle East, the markets dominated by the oil and gas industry, have a high demand for control valves, but the revenue growth of control valve suppliers in the North American and European markets has begun to slow down.

In 2008, Mr. Clayton pointed out: Although the current global control valve market has strong growth opportunities, challenges still exist. In many ways, control valve suppliers are facing the same opportunities and challenges as before. The strong growth of developing countries and regional markets provides an excellent opportunity for control valve suppliers to expand their business, but at the same time, how to establish a global supply and logistics system, how to develop new products and what new products to develop are all difficulties that control valve suppliers need to face and overcome. For example, many new petrochemical projects require large control valves that can withstand extreme temperature conditions and provide tight shut-off functions; deep-sea oil operations require high-pressure control valves that can provide effective opening thrust or sufficient torque.

In addition, with the continuous improvement of the degree of automation in modern production processes, process parameters have become an important indicator for judging the efficiency, working conditions and economic performance of production processes. The role of control valves in continuous and discrete control, energy metering, trade settlement, storage and transportation systems has become increasingly prominent. The requirements for precise control, multi-function and intelligent control valves are also getting higher and higher.

A major highlight of the development of the automation industry in 2007 was the rise of wireless communication applications in industrial automation factories. The advantages of wireless communication technology in remote, mobile and anytime, anywhere control made the original wiring control pale in comparison. Therefore, control valve suppliers are actively developing DTMs (DigitalTV Monitor System) to work with data-embedded diversified intelligent field devices designed based on PAM (Pulse Amplitude Modulation) solutions based on FDT (Formal Description Technique); on the other hand, control valve suppliers are considering vigorously developing wireless HART (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer) products.

In 2008, due to the strong growth of the control valve market in developing countries, control valve suppliers worked hard to stretch their manufacturing capabilities and meet customer needs, and the control valve market continued to grow. In sharp contrast to 2008, due to the impact of the financial crisis, control valve suppliers fell sharply in 2009 and control valve orders decreased. In the third quarter of 2009, Mr. Clayton was still optimistic that the global control valve market is expected to pick up in 2011.

Affected by the current global economic recession, the development trend of the global control valve market has changed dramatically. In the past 4 years, those companies that are more aggressive and pursue new business have grown faster and have benefited from the rapid growth of the market. Despite the economic recession, many control valve suppliers have once again found themselves in a market full of opportunities and less competition. Therefore, it is very important for control valve suppliers to go out and obtain new business, while maintaining the existing user base will be more important than ever.

In the past few years, the explosive growth of the control valve market has led to a sharp increase in the number of orders held by control valve suppliers, and increased production to meet market demand. In 2009, with the economic recession and declining shipments, control valve suppliers had a large backlog of inventory. Leading control valve suppliers will maintain a healthy inventory and digest the excess inventory as soon as possible in the growth of control valve sales and after-sales service orders. However, due to the inherent complexity of the sales chain and the long cyclical nature of ordering, these backlogs are difficult to digest in a short period of time.

In the face of the world economic recession, Mr. Clayton emphasized: The oil and related industrial markets are still the growth point of control valves; developing economies are still the engine of growth in the global control valve market. Developing countries such as China, India and Brazil have also been affected by the global economic crisis, but compared with other countries, their economic growth rates are still very high, and they still maintain the level of economic growth in 2008. Developing economies remain the main growth driver of the global control valve market. Emerging economies such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China), as well as the Middle East and Eastern Europe, will continue to support the growth of the control valve market.

The global control valve market needs to find demand from growing global consumption, which depends on a healthy capital investment and credit environment, a stable market return and intensive production needs. Only in this way can control valve suppliers cope with the upcoming rapid growth in energy demand and consumer demand in the control valve market around the world.