CORPORATIONS: Difficult business climate in Europe

The European construction market could stabilize in 2014 according to the managers of major corporations active in the construction field, even in the context in which the main difficulties for the business activity on the continent will maintain. Most managers estimated that the sales of the groups that they represent will increase slightly during this year. A positive outlook on the short and medium term was also made by companies specialized in market research and the latter indicate annual average developments of 5% in almost all sectors of the construction market. The comeback of the construction market will, thus, be visible especially in Europe, where the economic crisis has led to a deadlock in this regard. According to the data provided by Freedonia Group, the total aggregate sales will reach globally about 53 million cubic meters in 2017, following an annual increase of 5% starting with 2014. Furthermore, the sales of geosynthetic materials will increase by 9% per year during the same period, whilst positive estimates were also made for other construction sectors. In what concerns the international market of aggregates, the data provided by Freedonia indicate that North America and Western Europe will benefit from annual increases between 3% - 5%, while in Eastern Europe there will be noted developments close to 5% per year, due in particular to the massive orders from Russia. However, globally, more than half of the new demand on the aggregate market will come from China. Nonetheless, the experts predict that with the slowdown in economic growth of the country, the upward trend will be maintained due to the sharp development of countries from North Africa as well as some other Asian countries, most notably India. The product with the most spectacular growth from the aggregates sector will be the chipping, as the natural reserves of sand and gravel are declining globally, but its upward trend will be stopped when the trade of manufactured sand will boost. In what concerns the use of aggregates, approximately 60% of new demands will come from the cement market. On the geosynthetic materials market an annual growth of 9% globally until 2017 is forecasted according to the Freedonia Group experts.