Global Demand for Elevator Equipment & Services to Reach $111 Billion

Global demand for elevator equipment (including elevators, escalators and moving walkways, and associated parts) and services is projected to rise 5.6 percent annually to $111 billion in 2017. Growth will decelerate from the pace of the 2007-2012 period, when gains were driven by explosive growth of more than 25 percent per year in China. Freedonia analyst Mariel Behnke noted that “even though the Chinese market will cool from that breakneck pace, it will still generate nearly one-half of the growth in the market between 2012 and 2017.” These and other trends are presented in World Elevators, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.

Other developing markets that will contribute to global advances through 2017 include India, where demand will expand nearly 13 percent annually through 2017 as the country adds 50 million urban residents and per capita GDP increases faster than the global average. Central and South America is expected to see above average increases, led by Brazil, the region’s largest elevator market. The Africa/Mideast region is also expected to experience strong growth, though much of the expansion will be confined to Turkey and high income urban areas in the Middle East.

Growth in US demand for elevator services will outpace that in most developed countries, as the market recovers from a low 2012 base. Increases in Japan and Western Europe will mark a significant improvement from the marginal growth in the 2007-2012 period. However, growth in developed regions will trail that in the developing regions.

In 2007, global demand for elevator services exceeded demand for equipment. Western Europe, then the world’s largest regional market, had a large installed base of elevators, and stringent safety codes bolstered the modernization and repair services market. However, 2012 marked a significant change in the global market, as demand for equipment exceeded services demand, driven by strong growth in new unit installations in the developing world. That trend is expected to continue through 2017, as the large number of new units will not need as many repairs as Western Europe’s aging stock, and safety codes may be less strictly enforced in developing markets.

World Elevators (published 12/2013, 362 pages) is available for $6100 from The Freedonia Group, Inc. For further details, contact Corinne Gangloff by phone 440-684-9600 or e-mail [email protected]. Also, visit http://www.freedoniagroup.com