According to research company IHS, the performance of the market for medium-voltage (MV) motors is linked closely to the performance of its end-user industries as well as global economic conditions.
The significance of these two factors has never been more apparent than in the last few years as the world economy continues to improve from a global recession that has been compounded by problems in the still-recovering Eurozone economy, a marked slowdown in the Chinese economy, a variety of geopolitical problems, oil prices falling steeply, a global mining downturn, and the like.
Despite the Chinese economic slowdown, India, another major Asia-Pacific economy, is expected to lead regional (as well as global) growth with a projected 7.5% growth in GDP in 2015.
In the American region, the US economy is being supported by acceleration in consumer spending and homebuilding, while Latin American countries are struggling against economic recession, including Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil.
The world medium-voltage motors market is estimated to have been worth $US5.7 billion in 2014; IHS forecasts the market to decline slightly by 1.9% in 2015 to $US5.6 billion, but then grow at a revenue CAGR of 3.6% from 2014 to 2019, achieving a market size of $US6.8 billion in 2019.
Across the three regions, Asia Pacific is estimated to have contributed to the most revenues in 2014 at nearly $US2.7 billion. The region is also predicted to outperform the global market average in regards to a revenue CAGR of 3.8% during the same timeframe.
Despite the setback of a projected 3.2% contraction in 2015, IHS predicts American market growth to outpace that of the EMEA market with a revenue CAGR of 3.6% to reach nearly $US1.8 billion in 2019.
In addition, China, the world’s largest country market for MV motors, is forecast to hold its market–leading position in 2019 with close to $2.1 billion in revenues equating to a 30.8% market share, albeit the share is down from 31% in 2014.
The US market was the world’s second-largest country market in 2014, with estimated revenues of $US902.0 million; the market is predicted to remain the world’s second largest in 2019 with nearly $1.1 billion in revenues.
The sharp decline of oil prices is subsiding, and end-market demands are expected to increase, albeit with varying industry performance
The industry sectors of oil and natural gas, power generation, metals and mining were top consumers of MV motors in 2014, accounting for 22.3% ($US1.3 billion), 16.2% ($US923.0 million), 13.3% ($US757.9 million) and 11.4% ($US651.7 million) of the market, respectively, in 2014.
Over the forecast period, the chemical, power generation, and water and wastewater subsectors are predicted to grow at different rates, though each is forecast to outperform average total sector growth during the forecast period at CAGRs of 4.6%, 5.0% and 5.5%, respectively.