The metal industry has experienced its ups and down over the years. These ups and downs were attributed to the global economic crash of 2008 but more importantly, it has been triggered by a large part by the reduction in demand and the flow of cheap products that have been flooding the market. For a long time China has been the biggest consumer of steel products and in a bid to supply a market that is already petering off suppliers have had to reduce prices and unfortunately, with price reduction comes a reduction in quality. There are, however, certain growth industries that have picked up momentum over the same period and have boosted the industry somewhat. The move now has turned from mass production to producing custom steel products. A new global research study has revealed an interesting trend that is emerging in the global Metal Expansion Joints Market Growth.

What are expansion joints and how they are used

An expansion joint is a piece of metal sheeting designed and assembled to absorb, stress and heat-induced expansions and construction and to absorb vibrations and hold parts together. They typically consist of flanges, liners, covers, collars, etc. The design is always specific to the area of application and the working conditions and a company like KOMPA-FLEX  has been around enough to know what works and what doesn’t and offer solutions to for specific industries. The metal expansion joint market is dominated by the Chemical, oil and gas and nuclear energy industry and other complex industries. They are in demand in these industries because these industries usually have a large pipeline infrastructure and deal with complicated operations. These industries are not showing any signs of slowing down and as long as there are complex industrial processes like these and others, there will be a need for products like these.

The future of the expansion joint industry

The industry has been dominated by European Countries over the last couple of years and according to this Global Market Research Study on the Metal Expansion Joints market the biggest consumers will continue to be Asia-Pacific (APAC) Countries; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Americas. This market growth is projected to reach just over 9.8% by 2020. There are major players in the industry like KOMPA-FLEX, but with more demand, more companies are rising. The research also shows a rise in the demand for custom designed products. This will make this industry more of a specialized niche industry in the metal sector. A lot of companies are poised to see significant growth in business, but most importantly, countries that produce these products will see a boost in their economy as a result.

With burgeoning economy, a growing population and more demand for energy and gas the steel industry and the expansion joint market has made a definitive move from just being standard products used in the construction and erection of metallic structures and railway lines. The growth is also spurred on by the metal joints that have been failing because they’ve either been eroded by age or because they were poorly made. Since these products are used in high stress industries that are built to last a couple of lifetimes. It is important that only high quality products are used and it seems in the end quality will trump all.