But first, USA. Interestingly, prospects for 2009 have changed from the view this time last year. As the market moved through the deceleration growth phase of the latest business cycle, early indications were that the pending contraction will not be a harsh one as it endured in the 2001 through 2003 period.
And, while this may still be the case, it appears now that the contraction will continue into 2009. No leading indicators show a turn in 2008 or 2009 at this time. “Our forecast is for slower growth and a mild contraction in 2008 in the 5.0% to 7.0% range recovering late in 2009,” Hal Vandiver, executive vice president – business development, Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA), sums up.
Next, Scandinavia, where business is thriving. The economies of Scandinavia have, on the whole, had a good two or three years. Any slowdown in the pulp and paper industries have been more than compensated by demand for metals, engineering and Norway’s oil exploration and processing services.
In Sweden, automotive producers Scania, Volvo and Kalmar have been thriving, and the steel producer SSAB has seen unprecedented demand for its products, such as the high grade Weldox steel, the preferred material for the telescopic booms of mobile cranes.
Business is good in Japan, too, as Kito Corporation and Endo Kogyo Co. Ltd. tell me. Toshiyuki Noji, senior manager, business strategy department, Kito Corporation, says Japan’s crane and hoist industry “shrunk in size for about 10 years” in the wake of the economic boom, which burst in 1991.
In 2003, the industry was buoyed by renewed demand from the export sector, especially the auto industry, which enjoyed growing demand from overseas, as well as by the robust appetite of the Japanese automotive and IT industries for additional capital investments.
Endo Kogyo Co. Ltd. said its hoist business is increasing in line with the upturn of the domestic economy and added that there has been a notable upsurge since this time last year.
Richard Howes, Editor
