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Owing to the US-China trade war and the global economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the global fluid power equipment market is projected to face a sharp revenue contraction in 2020. Key end users, including oil and gas, aerospace and defense, and construction, are experiencing unprecedented declines due to the pandemic. The imposition of national lockdowns, travel bans, and the widespread stagnation of industrial activities have subdued the demand outlook for fluid power equipment. The global pumps and motors market is expected to experience a 4-5% revenue decline. Globally, macroeconomic factors such as negative GDP growth in developed countries and low purchasing managers’ index (PMI) indicate a tightening of overall market spend on fluid power equipment.

While the North American market will be significantly affected by a prolonged healthcare crisis and the effects of the US-China standoff, the Asia-Pacific market is anticipated to recover by the end of 2020, after a slump in the first 2 quarters of the year. Despite the negative growth being seen across multiple end-user industries, life science was able to record double-digit growth. This was mainly driven by the need to meet the explosive demand for motors, actuators, and valves for ventilators and medical equipment. In addition, sustained demand from essential industries such as food and beverage, as well as the plastics and the chemicals industries, helped to assuage the overall impact of the COVID-19-induced revenue decline.

The growing adoption of digital technologies and the shift to hybridization are expected to accelerate after the pandemic abates (mainly due to the proliferation of automation and control). As end users focus on reducing overall operational footprint, the adoption of robots across manufacturing floors will open up new opportunities for market participants. As fluid power equipment is crucial to the implementation of smart manufacturing systems, the need for technology-as-a-service and equipment-as-a-service models will increase. Virtual field services and digital workforce technologies will help the market recover and adapt to the current environment.