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29 March, 2024

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Global stepper market likely to shrink by 3.9% in 2009

02 July, 2009

The global market for industrial stepper motor systems is forecast to shrink by 3.9% this year, before returning to a small positive growth in 2010.

This prediction comes from the market analyst IMS Research which says that that the hardest-hit regions will be Japan and the Americas, where it expects revenues to drop by 6.7% and 4.2% respectively. Europe, the world’s biggest market for stepper systems – accounting for almost a third of all sales – will experience a 2% fall in revenues during 2009, according to IMS.

In 2008, the stepper market was still expanding with total sales for the year worth almost $1bn. The single-digit growth was similar to previous years, and was fuelled by demand from sectors such as medical and scientific, and food, beverage and tobacco.  However, a decline set in during the third quarter of 2008 and continued into the first half of 2009.

The market has been hit, in particular, by a drop in demand from sectors such as semiconductor manufacturing, printing, and electronics assembly.

According to IMS Research analyst Jenalea Howell, “nearly all industry sectors will be impacted by the economic slowdown with varying levels of affect, which is expected to cause the stepper systems market to contract only marginally in 2009 – particularly when compared with other industrial automation product markets – and resume positive growth in 2010.”




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