The industrial valves industry can look back on a successful first half of 2024, exceeding expectations. Despite a decline in domestic [German] sales, overall growth of 5% in nominal terms was achieved as a result of a strong expansion of foreign business, according to Verband Deutscher Maschinen und Anlagenbau (VDMA; Frankfurt, Germany; www.vdma.org). While domestic business fell by 5%, foreign sales recorded an impressive increase of 13% compared to the same period of the previous year. However, there is a small downside: after adjusting for price changes, the overall increase in sales of 5 per cent corresponds to a decline of 1%, VDMA said.
“The robust growth in foreign business more than offset the weakness in the domestic market in the first half of the year,” says Dr Laura Dorfer, Managing Director of VDMA Valves, explaining the current situation. “In the Asian and North American markets in particular, our members were able to further strengthen or at least successfully maintain their position. The positive performance of the companies at the leading trade fairs IFAT and ACHEMA in the spring also contributed to the fact that the extensive range of products and services offered by our members met with a positive response abroad.”
In contrast, the economy in Germany is still not running smoothly. Important customer industries such as the chemical industry have not yet returned to a growth path. VDMA member companies are also struggling with adverse location factors and are feeling the increasing shortage of skilled workers.
“Various risk factors are currently playing a role on the world markets, which is also clouding the outlook somewhat. Against this background, we expect a challenging second half of the year. For the full year 2024, we currently expect a 4 per cent increase in sales,” predicts the managing director of the trade association.
The largest increase in sales in the first half of the year was achieved by shut-off valves, with 7%. Safety and monitoring valves increased their sales by 5% and control valves recorded a 2% increase in sales. While domestic business was better than foreign business in the previous year, foreign business now scored in all sectors. The outlook for safety and monitoring valves is somewhat better than for shut-off and control valves. Overall, however, incoming orders are down 5 per cent in real terms on the previous year, according to VDMA figures.
In the first half of 2024, industrial valves worth around 2.6 billion euros were exported abroad. This corresponds to a nominal increase of 0.6 per cent compared to the good previous year.
Exports to China, the most important customer country, have increased significantly again in recent months after two weaker years. After a decline of 1.5% last year, they climbed by 13.9% to 337.0 million euros in the first half of the year. Exports to the second most important trading partner, the USA, remained at around the previous year’s high level of 273.8 million euros. At the same time, exports to France fell by 9.3%. The country still held third place among the most important sales markets, with a purchase volume of 156.3 million euros.