Tuesday 9 August 2016

Demand Across Sectors Open New Growth Avenues for Control Valves

The control valve market stands a fair chance owing to the demands in sectors like mining, oil & gas, and others. 

With a projected growth rate of over 6% by 2018, the control valves market is driven greatly by the oil and gas sector. It’s basically the controlling and automation requirements in the refineries that kept the industry growing say researchers at Allied Market Research. Besides, these valves demonstrate greater capability in the deep-water explorations continue analysts eyeing the size and share of the control valves market worldwide. That’s not enough! Different designs including sliding stem control valves and rotating shaft control valves are now being linked to greater performance. The demand for hydraulic control valve, pneumatic control valve, and electrical control valve has grown exponentially over the past five to six years. So what’s up with the industry players? 


Cast Steel Range Made a Headway 


Valve manufacturers are seen expanding their range by introducing cast steel variant. Such valves observe an increasing demand particularly in the industrial segment and engineering applications for instance to control the liquid flows. KSB caught several attentions, when it officially launched the BOA-CVE/CVP H range. Not only will the product help the end users replace their existing valve trim but also matches it to the control requirements. Likewise, these valves come along with features like perforated plugs, parabolic plugs, and multi-hole cages to tackle both noise and cavitation problems. 

Companies Invest Generously to Strengthen Its Presence 


Control valve manufacturers are now giving a serious thought over strengthening their competitive landscape. Acquiring the assets of the close factories is also an interesting trend to watch out in 2016. Spirax-Sarco Engineering, a well-known name in the steam and peristaltic pumping engineering space took the control valves industry by storm when it decided to invest in a closed Brazilian company named Hiter. Expressing his sentiment on the deal, Spirax’s board in a statement said “The Hiter brand has a well established reputation in Brazil with a large installed base and had net sales of over £7m in 2015.” The total purchase consideration of the assets paid in cash by Spirax is believed to be about £3.9 million. 

Oil & Gas Sector Keep the Future of The Control Valves Market Bright 


The United States has already become energy independent and invested close to $8 billion, according to a 2014 statistics. A lot in this market depends upon the transportation infrastructure as well as export terminals. So with the emergence of different sites in and constant pressure from Russia, this mainstream category is destined to get bigger in Europe. This indicates that with pipeline installation at its all-time high the control valves market stands a fair chance. Likewise, the booster stations along the newly established pipeline has also increased giving the industry the much awaited boost. Most of these stations are controlled as well as monitored from a centralized location. 

Chemical Industry Re-Defines Industrial Growth  


The shale boom in North America has resulted in the development of the polypropylene and ethylene plants. New participants from Asia-Pacific region including China and India has already started creating demands for control valves. The region now boasts of larger chemical processing facilities than ever. Besides, the power generation companies are witnessing a constant need for control valves especially in China. There are speculations that China will soon have about 30 nuclear power plants. With Europe focusing more on renewable energy sources for generating electricity the role of control valves become more prominent. Therefore, it will not be wrong on our part to quote that valves are finally fulfilling some of the niche applications in the sector compared to the conventional coal fired power plants. 

Wastewater Industry Become a Major End User of Control Valves 


The hydraulic control valve and pneumatic control valve will be driven by the wastewater industry in years to come. Being a major supporter of the growing population and rapid urbanization the industry definitely has a robust future. Moreover, investors are generously investing in developing market such as Asia and Africa. The retrofit market in regions including North America have also managed to attract investors with their high-potentiality. While Asia-Pacific region sees an increasing demand for potable water, the possibilities in water-intensive sectors such as mining remains strong in Africa.