On May 20, 2010, Jim Meil who is Chief Economist at Eaton Corporation, presented his quarterly update of the state of the fluid power industry. He talked about sustaining recovery after inventory restocking is a spent force. He also presented information on the global economy and effects on the fluid power industry.
He gave some very encouraging information about the recovering hydraulics industry in both the mobile and industrial sectors. Mr. Meil reflected on growth in all mobile markets including construction and agricultural machinery. However, caution was given that return to the 2006/08 levels of shipments would be measured in years, not in months or quarters.
The macroeconomic outlook for the U.S. economy was also very positive with a yearly GDP for 2010 showing a 3.3% expansion versus a contraction in 2009 of 2.4%. Better news yet is a forecast of further growth of 3.2% in 2011.
Overall, the news was good and it appears that our overall U.S. economy is showing continued improvement and our fluid power economy is certainly recovering.
For more information, go the the National Fluid Power Association website by clicking on the title of this post.
