Powder metallurgy market to be dominated by emerging Asian countries

The global powder metallurgy market has been forecast to hit a value of nearly $26.5 billion by 2017, increasing from a valuation of $20.5 billion, recorded in 2012.

Powder metallurgy has been a steady market over the past several decades, growing from the 1980s. Much of its growth derived from metal powder-based parts used to replace castings, forgings and machined parts. The industry has consistently demonstrated that it could meet the demand of manufacturers at a lower cost than other technologies.

Powder metallurgy technology is still evolving, and the industry has adopted particulates (i.e., powders and materials not made solely of metals). Products are changing too, and powder metallurgy can be adapted or modified to meet their demands.

The powder metallurgy market offers improved performance and greater design flexibility compared with traditional metalworking techniques such as casting, extrusion or forging. The increased choices and high quality of today's metal powders provides for a wide range of new powder metallurgy materials to meet the specialised demands of parts such as bearings, bushings, gears and pistons, used in a variety of industries, ranging from automotive and aerospace to medical and electronics.

The global market for powder-metal shipments recovered to prerecession levels at a value of $6.7 billion in 2011. This market grew to nearly $6.7 billion in 2012. Total market value for powder shipments are expected to reach a value of nearly $8.6 billion by 2017 with a CAGR of 3.9% in volume terms and 5.2% in value.

Shipments of powder metal-based parts and components are expected to grow from nearly $14 billion in 2011 to nearly $14 billion in 2012 $17.9 billion in 2017, with a CAGR of 3.9% in volume terms.

The North American and European powder metallurgy markets will continue to lose global market share to China and other expanding Asian countries, such as India. The powder metallurgy market in developing Asia will show growth of approximately 9%; with certain Asian countries set to see even higher growth.

For more information on the powder metallurgy market, see the latest research: Powder Metallurgy Market

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