The global mobile hydraulics market rebounded in 2021, hitting $18.7bn in revenues, following a slight contraction the year previous, says a new report from market intelligence company, Interact Analysis.
Between 2019 and 2021, the market grew with a CAGR of 5.2%, mainly due to a boom in the material handling market and increased demand for construction equipment. It is expected that new hydraulic technologies such as digital and electro hydraulics will improve hydraulic efficiency, an important consideration in the wider context of vehicle electrification.
The mobile hydraulics market in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Americas contracted by -9.7% and -3.2% respectively in 2020. EMEA’s share in the agricultural machinery production market, which has traditionally been a dominant user of hydraulic equipment, has since “eroded” according to the latest findings. Yet, EMEA and the Americas rebounded in 2021, and this is expected to continue into 2022 as order backlogs are met.
“One thing that came as a surprise when conducting this research was that vehicle electrification is not driving the increased demand for hydraulic substitutes at the rate we expected,” said Brianna Jackson, Research Analyst at Interact Analysis.
“Many OEMs are still prioritising cost over efficiency. Even in applications where replacing hydraulics with an electro-mechanical counterpart seems most feasible, uptake has been slow as vehicle OEMs are reluctant to make changes to vehicle architectures.”
The report also revealed that while growth in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) remains positive, it is likely to decelerate as a result of a slowdown in the construction sector and as the regional market matures. APAC has showed impressive growth throughout the past two decades and accounted for as much as 50% of the market in 2020.
Towards the end of the forecast period, the research shows that growth in the Americas will pick up exponentially because of the major infrastructure overhaul scheduled for 2026.
In September 2021, Volvo developed a new electro-hydraulic system. In the same month, Manitex Valla launched a new zero-emission electric mobile crane. Bauma 2022 will focus on the development of autonomous construction machines,
