Online research website IBISWorld has released a report on the structural metal product market in the US. During the economic depression, many industries including the construction industry suffered a downfall.
This in turn led to the crash of structural metal products market. However, the construction industry is now experiencing an upward trend. This growth is expected to be translated to the structural metal industry too over the year.
According to the report in the year 2007, the industry’s revenues were not impacted and there was steady growth. However during 2008 the construction industry experienced a standstill due to credit and subprime crisis. Revenue fell by 19.4% during this period. Since 2006, activity in the construction industry has been reduced by 50%. Due to this factor, industrial revenue is also expected to decline at an annual rate of 3.2% over the five years up to 2012. Though the construction industry in US is estimated to remain weak for this year, revenue will increase by 4.1% to $37.4 billion. According to analyst Brian Bueno, an increase in the prices of input materials such as aluminium and steel and imports caused a drop in profit margins during the period between 2007 and 2008.
He also added that despite this factor, the trade deficit in the industry has been narrowed down since exports have equalled imports. For the year 2012, exports alone will contribute towards 5.3% of total revenue. Major players in the market such as Commercial Metals and Nucor Corporation have been consistently expanding their operations through acquisition of smaller companies. As a result the number of enterprises in the industry has also come down. Over the next five years up to 2017, however, the industry is set for growth.
Source: http://www.ibisworld.com