Ball Valve Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Ball Valve Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Ball Valve Market was valued at USD 11.68 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 13.93 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 3.1% during the forecast period (2021 - 2026). A global increase in the demand for oil and gas is expected to be one of the major factors contributing to the ball valve market growth.

The impact of COVID-19 has not been the same on the vendors since some of them offer and service ball valves only for the food sector, while others offer only for the oil and gas sector. Vendors who cater to food processing are nowadays most profitable since the manufacturing of food-related items have been deemed under essential services, and those facilities have been working extra hours to fulfill the demand. The pandemic has disrupted the maintenance of oil and gas projects and refineries space which is already impacted due to slumping prices. The price of Brent crude oil plummeted in March 2020, and, despite recovering, partly as the result of record cuts to production agreed by OPEC, closed at USD 40 (for the August contract) on the 24th June 2020. (source: OPEC). Repairs of valves are regularly needed to keep wells pumping, pipelines and refineries functioning. However, due to global lockdown, the maintenance activities have been halted, due to which there is an increased risk of glitches or unplanned outages.

Key Highlights

• Valves play a vital role in increasingly complex industrial environments. Pipelines are necessary for every industry that deals with fluid, whether they are in crude oil or natural gas production. Nearly all industry verticals, like medicine, food processing, water treatment, engines, machinery, plant engineering, or the conveyance of gas, fluids, and free-flowing solids, there is extensive usage of pipes and valves.
• Such elaborative application for transportation of fluid has made pipelines highly acceptable solutions. Valves also bring flow control in pipeline applications. The ball valve is a quarter-turn valve suitable for clean gas-compressed air and liquid service in industrial applications due to its tight shutoff. They can also be used for slurry service, but provisions for preventing crud buildup arere needed.
• Pipeline ball valves can be complemented with various types of anti-cavitation and noise-protection trims to stage the pressure drops and prevent cavitation. This allows the valve to not take the entire pressure drop at once.
• Ball valves are generally used in large bore sizes where smaller dimensions of other kinds of valves such as butterfly valve result in stem sizes that are generally smaller and weaker. In applications where space limitation and structural load are the most significant concerns, such as in offshore drilling platforms and Floating production storage and offloading (FPSOs), ball valves are not preferred by the users. The triple offset butterfly valve is preferred due to its applicability in offshore platform installations.
• Earlier ball valves are limited to temperature applications below 170 degrees due to the selection of soft materials. Now the selection of seating elements coincides with the parent material like steel leads to the versatile selection of ball valves for high-temperature services. Virtual development in spraying technologies leads to a revolution in ball valves.

Key Market TrendsFood Processing Industry Expected to Have Significant Applications

• The food processing industry is one of the major applications for ball valves, as operations like product fillings need to maintain a regulated flow throughout the process.
• The balls valves in the industry include both valves that come directly in contact with the material, and those are used in utility services, like water and steam. In both cases, valves need to be designed to meet several industry regulations, especially the ones in direct contact with the food material. This poses significant challenges for manufacturers to gain regulatory approvals.
• Among all the types of materials, stainless steel is gaining importance since they are more corrosion resistant. Because valves are meant to open and close, corrosion can cause a big issues. These kinds of valves are observed to hold up much better to harsher water types, which can be beneficial in food processing plants.
• They also has a higher pressure rating than other types of materials such as brass. For instance, a standard brass ball valve might have a Pressure rating of 600 PSI on a 1-inch model. A standard Stainless Ball Valve would probably have pressure rating of 1000 PSI on 1-inch model.
• In the food industry, even the valves and their fittings that can come into direct contact with the products need to meet the criteria set by several regulatory authorities. Many industries that have their pipelines extended in long distances need to carry pigging solutions to clear any residual settlement in the pipelines. For instance, in gas pipelines, such residual can impact the flow and even the production. Special ball valves that have the same internal diameter as pipes are preferred in such applications. The major requirement for the ball valves in industrial applications is for the isolation of the system and pumps, or other equipment, in case a maintenance-based need arises or the flow needs to be channelized between different lines.
• Increasing government spending to enhance the existing food processing infrastructure, to achieve self-sufficiency goals, is expected to provide better growth opportunities to the market.

North America is Expected to Dominate the Market

• The Department of the Interior (DoI) of the United States estimates that this program could discover approximately 98% of the technically recoverable oil and gas resources in federal offshore areas to be available for exploration and development by 2020.
• Besides, the country has also unveiled a new Draft Proposed Program (DPP), which includes 47 potential lease sales in 25 of the 26 planning areas, indicating high exploratory activity in the region over the forecast period.
• The United States is home to iconic hydropower projects. The Grand Coulee Dam, built across the Columbia River in Washington, is one of the best hydropower projects, which generates about two-thirds of the state's electricity requirement. In April 2019, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced funding of up to USD 26.1 million to advance the marine and hydrokinetics (MHK) industry and increase hydropower’s ability for serving as a flexible grid resource as a part of innovation drive for industry-led technology solutions.
• In July 2019, GE Renewable Energy signed an agreement with the US government for two hydropower contracts. One of these contracts is for the Northfield Mountain pumped hydro storage station, and the other is for the PG&E’s Caribou One hydropower station. Such initiative would lead to the market demand.
• Similar to the United States, Canada also has a vast potential for control valves from the oil and gas industry. The recent approval of the CAD 40 billion LNG Canadian project has marked the first upturn in oil and gas projects in the country after the recent low crude oil price situation.
• Several oil and gas projects were sanctioned in Prince Rupert, Canada, which include ExxonMobil Corp.’s WCC LNG project and AltaGas Ltd's propane-export terminal. Such activities in the country are leading to an increased demand for new pipeline infrastructure.
• As of September 2019, the US manufacturing output increased more than expected in Q3 2019, mostly driven by the surge in machinery and primary metals production. However, according to the Federal Reserve, slower growth is expected considering the backdrop of trade tensions and slowing global economies.

Competitive Landscape

The ball valve market consists of several players, with no group of players currently holding a major share in the market. The companies are engaging in mergers and acquisitions to increase their expertise in the product. The market is being viewed as a lucrative investment opportunity due to the wide consumer base. With a huge number of new market entrants, the market is moving towards fragmentation.

• June 2020 - Energy Products Company launched ORBIT ball valves, which uses ball valve seating technology. It can be used to safeguard against an issue called seat rubbing (by their unique tilt and turn design). They are designed for gas processing plants that use molecular sieves.
• February 2020 - Swagelok, a solutions provider of fluid system products, assemblies, and related services, announced the release of the full-bore, bidirectional flow – capable Swagelok GB series ball valve. It can be used in hydraulic, injection, and fire suppression systems in the oil and gas industry; isolation for compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle infrastructure; and isolation in highly corrosive alkylation operations in the chemical and petrochemical industry.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

ALFA LAVAL
CIRCOR International Inc.
Crane Co.
Castel SRL
Sanhua USA
Curtiss
Wright Corporation
Danfoss A/S
Emerson Electric Co
Georg Fischer Ltd
Flowserve Corporation
Hitachi Ltd
Honeywell International Inc.
KITZ Corporation
Mueller Water Products Inc

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