The global screwjack market will continue to grow stably over the coming five years, according to a new report from the market analyst, IMS Research. It describes the screwjack market as “mature” and says it has been recording low single-digit growth in recent years.

One sector that is outperforming the global business is the energy market, where screwjacks are used to handle bulky items in applications such as the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. IMS predicts that sales of screwjacks to the energy sector will be worth more than $44m in 2015.

The main beneficiaries will be screwjack manufacturers from Europe, North America and Japan, which are often preferred in safety-critical applications such as nuclear plants, as is demonstrated by the amount of business they do in the Asia-Pacific region.

“The energy sector of the screwjack market will benefit from ongoing industrialisation and urbanisation in fast-growing economies, and investment in replacement power generation capacity and decommissioning of old nuclear power plants in developed economies,” says senior IMS Research analyst, James Dawson. “This will be welcome news for European manufacturers who have suffered from tough economic circumstances affecting their traditional heavy industrial automation market segments, such as glass and chemical production.” 

Screwjack producers from low-cost manufacturing countries are focusing mainly on industrial automation applications. This is the biggest market in each region, and tends to be the most price-competitive. There are opportunities here for screwjack producers from low-cost manufacturing regions to build up market share, IMS says.