Growth to continue in water analysis instrumentation market

Water has been a major challenge for industry in recent years, and no doubt will continue to be in years to come. The supply of clean and safe water has been threatened by contamination issues - the result of rapid population growth and industrialisation - and the shortage of availability.

Global Industry Analysts has released a research report entitled ‘Water Analysis Instrumentation: A Global Strategic Business Report’, which provides a review of market trends, issues, drivers, company profiles, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic industry activities.

Water analysis in various industrial sectors and municipalities has been in existence for several years. However, increasing concerns over water contamination and stringent water quality control regulations have been the key growth drivers in the water analysis instrumentation market over the recent years. Technological advancements such as use of electronics and emergence of instruments that test multiparameters have been playing a pivotal role in transforming the market.

The market has come a long way from the use of a single instrument to measure each parameter to the development of multiparameter instrumentation and online systems for measuring, monitoring and controlling water quality. Laboratory-based water analysis instrumentation represents the largest product market with growth supported by the need for analysis of industrial effluents and process water.

For online systems, industrial applications represent a key end-use market. The capability of these systems to incorporate automation in monitoring, through real-time evaluation and feedback, make them particularly invaluable in industrial applications. Online water analysis instrumentation is therefore projected to emerge as the fastest growing market. The relatively higher growth expected is in part due to saturation in the laboratory-based water analysis instrumentation market, which witnessed very few technology innovations over the last couple of years. However, growth and penetration in other end-use markets remains limited due to the higher upfront costs and investments associated with these systems.

According to the report, Europe represents the largest market worldwide. Relative saturation of demand has slowed down the pace of growth in various developed markets, including Europe. Increasing awareness of water quality issues, meanwhile, has created significant interest in monitoring technologies in developing markets, which are expected to spearhead global growth in the coming years.

The Asia-Pacific region in particular is projected to emerge as the fastest growing regional market with a CAGR of 11.3% over the analysis period. Growth in the region is led by environmental concerns, increasing stringency in water regulations, growing population and need for safe drinking water, and strong demand for high-quality water from the industrial sector.

Major players covered in the report include: ABB, Emerson Process Management, GE Analytical Instruments, Hach Company, Hanna Instruments, Honeywell Process Solutions, Mettler-Toledo International, Precision Sensing GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Xylem.

The report is available here.