The world-wide control valve market, which totalled almost USD 3 billion in 2002, will reach almost USD 3.5 billion by the end of 2007, expanding at a cumulative annual growth rate of just over 3%, according to a new study by the ARC Advisory Group. Even as global uncertainties and slack market conditions continue to pull down sales, “the long-term business prospects for control valves look reasonably bright,” according to Senior Analyst Dave Clayton and Senior Analyst Srinivas Macha, the authors of ARC’s Control Valve Worldwide Outlook. “Relatively immature markets such as food & beverage, drugs & pharmaceuticals, and specialty chemicals,” they say, “constitute high growth sectors, while such traditional markets as chemicals and pulp & paper continue to remain subdued. The power and oil & gas industries are witnessing new investments, renovation, and modernisation activities. With global oil crude prices and refining margins perking up, this trend should continue for a while.”
