energy. Gas might be needed as a backup fuel for generating electricity on renewables turndown, but other technologies are also considered.


• Opportunities for manufactures look at China switching from coal to much cleaner natural gas.


• Future segment growth will depend in part on climate policies worldwide.


Automotive During the first quarter, demand for new commercial vehicles in the EU increased (+2.7%). Despite a slowdown in March (-2.5%), the year-to-date results remained positive as registrations grew 7.9% in January and 5.0% in February. In total, 620,910 new commercial vehicles were registered so far this year. This growth was sustained by


all vehicle segments, but by light commercial vehicles and trucks in particular. Spain (+9.2%) showed the strongest growth, followed by France (+6.2%), Italy (+4.8%) and Germany (+0.4%), but demand for commercial vehicles in the United Kingdom declined by 3.9%. However the last quarter of the year has manifested a significant drop specifically with diesel propelled vehicles due to confusing government policies.


Commercial The market for commercial castings showed steady performance with slight growth of 1,1% for the year.


European Industry Prospects 2019 Aerospace Aerospace market will remain strong during 2019 with increasing demand on the supply chain to cope with the output targets planned by Boeing and Airbus. The existing backlog of orders and


the sustained net orders move provide confidence on a high and sustained demand of castings into this sector.


IGT


Realignment of strategies within the main manufacturers in combination with the increased use of renewables plus the climate policies have to redefine


®


Figure 3: European Market Segments by Country, 2018


the sector. It is not expected a recovery into the sector within 2019. Spares for the servicing market will continue to provide some steady demand.


Automotive Europe maintains its position as the world’s second largest car producer, representing 21.6% of global output. • The demand for quality vehicles is predicted to remain stable with slight growth over upcoming years


• The impact of the appearance of the electric car and mid term climate policies might have an effect yet unknown to the Investment Casting industry


Commercial Casting sales shall remain competitive with similar levels of demand and output in 2019. Some reshoring activities are


establishing a trend in products coming back to European foundries.


Summary European investment casting has continued its strong performance in 2018. This is being led by a strong European High Added Value sector supported by Aerospace applications. Automotive continues to be a very important sector in the use of Investment


Casting components exhibiting steady growth, however the impact of electric car incorporation is yet to be understood. The energy source shift and climate policies is severely affecting the IGT sector. The European economy is predicted


to maintain similar levels of GDP growth or slightly slow down. The labour market outlook remains positive, as continued economic expansion and moderate wage growth are expected to sustain job creation in the coming years. The EU unemployment rate is projected to continue its downward trend to 6.7% in 2019. Good conditions for investment casting companies are anticipated.


Disclaimer The European Industry acting in the field of Investment casting is non related to any political institution but it corresponds to the geographical location where these companies carry out their activity within the different European countries. The study represents the volume of sales produced by the European foundries and addresses different market segments analyzed, independently from the location of those market and end users. 2018 Projections given are based on actual data as per November 2018 or as noted.


January 2019 ❘ 21


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