NEWS RELEASE                                   APRIL 2009

World Valve Market to be Flat This Year, but Will Recover over Next Few Years

World sales of industrial valves will remain at $47 billion this year.  They will be up only 3 percent next year and will grow slowly over the next few years.  This is the latest forecast from McIlvaine Company in the continually updated online report, Industrial Valves: World Markets.

While the total market will be flat this year, there are substantial changes in individual industries and in various regions of the world.  Sales losses in electronics, iron and steel, metals, pulp and paper will be offset by gains in municipal water, municipal wastewater, power, and pharmaceutical.

Likewise there are differences in the continents:

Europe, Africa and the Americas will experience shrinking markets but Asia will experience modest growth to offset the decline elsewhere.

Some industries in China will show fairly robust growth.  Municipal wastewater valve purchases will be up from $673 million to $778 million.  Growth will be effected by the Chinese stimulus package and great need for better wastewater treatment.

Despite the slowing growth in power, the valve market in this sector will be up almost $200 million to $2.2 billion.  The replacement valve market in Chinese coal-fired power plants is now twice as large as that in the U.S. and accounts for more than 30 percent of the world market.

In the U.S. the strong sectors will be municipal water, municipal wastewater and power.  The stimulus package will boost the water markets.  The power market will benefit from billions of dollars of environmental retrofits.  The addition of scrubbers to many plants will result in substantial purchases of slurry and clear water valves.  Due to the TVA impoundment pond collapse there is substantial activity in alternative ways to handle flyash.