Massive growth expected in Chinese magnetic flowmeter market

A recently released report says double-digit growth for magnetic flowmeters in China will be driven by investments in infrastructure. Revenues for the magnetic flowmeter market in China are expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.7 per cent over the next five years. The market was slightly more than $US 46 million in 2003 and is forecasted to be nearly $US 77 million in 2008, according to ARC Advisory Group's Magnetic Flowmeter Outlook for China Through 2008 study.

The report noted that the Chinese government is concerned that uneven distribution of water resources may have an adverse impact on sustainable development. As a result, it is investing an estimated $US 22 billion in water and wastewater treatment projects. The industrial revolution currently taking place in China is unprecedented. Investments in the water and wastewater industries in China bode well for magnetic flowmeter suppliers as magmeters are used extensively in these industries, according to the ARC study.

Many economists have commented that infrastructure development projects on a massive scale are being driven by the migration of millions of low paid workers from the countryside to the cities. Road, rail, water, power, and sewage treatment projects are expected to continue through the year 2020 when, according to estimates, 300 million of the total population of 1,300 million will have migrated to the cities.

Two decades of rapid industrialisation and sustained high overall economic growth have fueled the demand for industrial goods, while economic reform and greater openness to foreign investment have stimulated local production and exports. ARC says China's elevated role in global trade continues to transform the landscape of entire industries and the country has become a mecca for automation suppliers.

According to the study, a number of magnetic flowmeter technological developments are broadening the application range of magnetic flowmeters. Magmeters for partially filled pipes can be invaluable in the Chinese market where the use of such meters will not only meet current capacity requirements but will still be suitable for full-scale requirements in the future. Non-contacting electrodes enable magmeters of this design to be suitable for problematic applications including latex, asphalt, ultra-high purity water, alcohols, glycerins, and suspended fruit. ARC says the penchant for the latest automation technology by Chinese manufacturers has been a boon for the fieldbus technology, and battery powered meters are finding growing acceptance for remote installations, particularly in water and wastewater pipelines.

ARC says that other process industries with projected double digit magnetic flowmeter growth are metals and mining, pulp and paper, and pharmaceutical, and that China has become a force to be reckoned with in the global mining market. The Chinese government's National Plan for Building a Complete Industrial Chain between the Forestation and Paper Making Sectors includes planting five million hectares of fast-growing trees and the construction of large, modern paper mills close to the re-forested areas. China is a large medicine producer with more than 6700 pharmaceutical enterprises. The study also found that China represents one of the world's fast-growing over-the-counter (OTC) drug markets and is also the world's second largest producer of pharmaceutical chemicals.