Steel is the most important engineering material in the world, and its production is highly energy-intensive. Properties like malleability, ductility, durability and strength have made steel casting an integral part of the construction, infrastructure, transportation and automotive industries. Apart from applicability, high demand for castings of various size and weight is driving the global steel casting market. According to analysts at Technavio, the market, which was valued at 11.12 million metric tons (in terms of production) in 2015, will reach 13 million metric tons by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 4%.
APAC and the global steel casting market
APAC (Asia-Pacific) dominates the highly-fragmented global steel casting market. Apart from Japan, China and India are investing heavily in advanced technologies for highly customized steel castings. This is mainly because the two countries have emerged as major automobile hubs.
Another key reason why APAC is leading the market is that, unlike in many other parts of the world, economic slowdown has not affected its industries. Strong economic foundations such as effective legal and fiscal policies and increased foreign capital inflows have contributed significantly to the overall growth of its GDP. By 2017, APAC’s GDP is expected to reach 6%; economists predict that by 2020, Asia will have the fastest-growing economy world.
Apart from China and India, Australia, South Korea and Japan are also contributing to market growth. In all three countries, investments in the construction industry have increased by 2% on average, while the average growth of the construction market in APAC has been around 6% per annum. The automobile industry is also experiencing similar levels of growth.
Another driving factor behind the growth of the steel casting market in APAC is simulation castings. Simulation helps to predict the location of internal defects and optimizes the method and design of the entire casting process. For these reasons, steel casting manufacturers are producing larger quantities of simulation-based castings. Along with being highly accurate and reliable, they are also economical, which is why more and more manufacturers are switching to their production.
Finally, the fact that steel is considered a sustainable casting material has further boosted the steel casting industry.
Some of the leading producers of steel castings at the global level are China, the US, India, Russia, Italy, Japan and Korea.
Key vendors in the global steel casting market include Anhui Yingliu Electrochemical, Hitachi Metals, Precision Castparts, Kobe Steel and JCFC.
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