U.S. manufacturers of insulated wire and cable products can expect steady growth through 2010, according to a new market study.
According to a research project published by The Freedonia Group Inc., a Cleveland-based industrial market research firm, U.S. insulated wire and cable product sales are expected to $20.5 billion in 2010 from $18.4 billion in 2005.
Many wire and cable markets are expected to continue recovering from the economic downturn earlier this decade, which will support demand for electronic, apparatus, and control and signal wire. The large building wire and cable market, which had remained strong given the sharp rises in residential construction, will decline as residential construction weakens.
Fiber-optic cable demand will see the sharpest increases among the major product types, rising more than 10 percent annually through the end of the decade. However, despite solid increases, fiber-optic cable demand will not recover to its 2000 levels in the foreseeable future. Electronic wire and cable will also post solid gains, as shipments of the communications and electronic products that form the bedrock markets for these goods rebound.