Europe’s cables market growth to speed up after 2017
The growth of the European cables market is expected to accelerate after 2017 and is estimated to grow at an average of 3.3% per year until 2021, according to a newly published report by the plastics market experts, AMI Consulting.
The value of the market for polymeric materials used for cable production is estimated at EUR2.3 billion for 2016, the report says.
In this report AMI Consulting calculates that European demand in this niche polymeric material market grew by 1.7% per year between 2012 and 2016. While materials usage has risen, it is still at pre-recession levels. However, the future of the cables market looks bright as it is predicted to grow faster after 2017.
This growth is driven by increased construction activity for residential settlements, infrastructure investment, Europe’s focus on growing its sources of renewable energy and a growing appetite for increased internet speeds and bigger bandwidths.
The 2008 recession has resulted in consolidation activity in this industry. However, the variation between regions in infrastructure, economic paths, and value creation has meant that the top five cable-manufacturing countries have changed over the reporting period. This has brought changes to the regional distribution of polymeric materials consumption.
Material selection is also changing. Some of this is because cable manufacturers are focusing on value added production to increase profitability in a very competitive industry. Changes in material selection are also being affected by a growing interest in the industry on reaction to fire properties of cables. This new focus is due to incoming construction products regulation.
Weak profitability in the previous reporting period, slower economic growth in mature European countries, opportunities in specific Eastern European countries, and changing market dynamics have driven ongoing restructuring and reorganization among the leading players to optimize production and reduce costs. This has helped to improve industry profitability over the last four years.
The report quantifies the market and identifies its demand drivers, material selection trends, the regulations affecting and the changes underway. The report also provides a historic snapshot of the industry’s biggest players and a site by site outline of polymeric material consumption. It provides an analysis of the past and an outlook for the future, based on 2008-2016 data and forecasts for 2017-2021.
