According to a recent Bob McIlvaine report, ‘Detailed Forecasting of Markets, Prospects and Projects,’ whether you sell valves, pumps, filters, fans, compressors, treatment chemicals, scrubbers or centrifuges, you cannot focus on just the US, China or EU market.
McIlvaine notes, individual projects can measurably impact the market in a given year. There are nine large Canadian potash projects underway with a combined capital investment of over $30 billion. The largest project will require a $4 billion investment. Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach has let a series of contracts to Amec Foster Wheeler to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) for three grassroots refineries that will add a total of 15 million tons/year in refining capacity in the country. So these few projects represent a significant percentage of the yearly flow control and treatment revenues for the worldwide industry.
Flow control and treatment companies need to pursue the world market. There are 196 countries with more than 50 major industries who purchase flow control and treatment equipment. Many of these countries are quite small. McIlvaine forecasts divide the world into 80 purchasing entities which include 72 separate countries and 8 country groups.