The international growth in demand for industrial valves has prompted South African valve manufacturers and suppliers to pursue global business partners in the mining sector.

Exhibiting at the South African Industry and Technology Fair (Indutec) from May 14 to 16, the Valve and Actuator Manufacturers’ Cluster of South Africa (Vamcosa) will showcase some of South Africa’s manufacturing prowess to businesses worldwide, which will further magnify the local industry. The Pumps Valves & Pipes Africa (PVPA) trade show is one of ten sectoral events forming part of Indutec this year.

“Worldwide demand for industrial valves has been growing by 5.5% a year since 2011 and will reach $94-billion by 2015. Almost 29% of this demand, worth $26.8-billion, is coming from the global mining sector,” says Exhibition Management Services MD and PVPA trade show organiser John Thomson.

“This solid demand provides a welcome opportunity for valve manufacturers and suppliers in South Africa to satisfy demand from local mining operations and explore the multiplicity of opportunities arising in international markets.

“These compelling statistics are just some of the reasons for the strong presence of valve suppliers at this year’s trade show,” he adds.

Meeting a Need

Vamcosa chief spokesperson Ross Hunter says that, as the local valve manufacturing industry in South Africa has been declin- ing by 60% since 1994, the organisation persuaded several local companies to come together as a cluster to help combat the shrinking industry. This resulted in Vamcosa being established and, with its 14 members, comprises 90% of local manufacturers.

Valves manufacturer Premier Valves national sales manager Roelf Frauendorf says that, ironically, recent challenges in the mining industry have actually created more opportunities for the company. “Reduced production outputs and low commodity prices mean that we can offer customers more cost-effective solutions such as refurbishing existing valves.”

He adds that Premier Valves is involved in projects with Harmony Gold mine, Anglo Platinum and Gold Fields. There is also continual growth because of new mines being developed worldwide. “I think South African expertise in valve manufacturing can easily be applied to international mining developments.”

Premier Valves has also developed and manufactured resilient seated gate valves, rubber-lined gate valves, butter- fly valves, high-pressure gate valves, pressure-reducing stations for deep mining, gate valves for slurry and process applications and ceramic-lined valves for severe applications.

“The PVPA trade show, in 2011, improved the company’s exposure in the market and delivered valued access to new customers and markets. “We are going to use this year’s trade show to showcase our range of products and services, which are new to our product offering, such as diaphragm valves, rubber-lined resilient seated gate valves and ceramic-lined valves,” Frauendorf adds.

Meanwhile, original-equipment manu- facturer (OEM) KSB is also looking forward to the exhibition: “We will leverage our presence at PVPA as an OEM in the valve market to establish links with potential customers, as we operate across the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, where there is constant development in mining,” says KSB valve division manager John Smith.

Local Growth Prospects

In August last year, State-owned power utility Eskom announced during its supplier development and localisation strategy and planning presentation that it would spend about R1.47-billion between 2012 and 2017 on valves and valve spares, and about R2-billion between 2018 and 2027, owing to new build projects and ongoing operational and maintenance projects at its existing power plants.

Further, Eskom also noted that there was opportunity to improve local development where there was already an established base for local manufacturing, imported valves and imported subcomponents valves. “There is a need to develop new valve manufacturers to increase the competitiveness of the market and contribute to the development of skills in the country,” the power utility added.

“Eskom’s approved capacity expansion budget is expected to increase well over R1-trillion by 2025. Key products that will be in demand include control valves, multiturn valves, quarter-turn valves and electric and pneumatic actuators. Local valve manufacturers are certain to benefit from this massive build programme,” says Thomson.

Despite a Frost & Sullivan study, which indicated a decline in growth for the on/off valves sector of 3.6% from 2007 to 2014, the valves sector has had a modest increase of 1% in revenue share for the same period.

Further, control valves are expected to increase in revenue shares from 2008 to 2014, compared with the on/off valves products segment. This increase in demand emanates from the power generation and chemicals and petrochemicals industries. The revenue share of the control valves market is expected to rise from 30% in 2008 to 31.3% in 2014.

However, both these categories will significantly increase in growth post- 2014, particularly, as a result of activity in the power generation and water and wastewater sectors, owing to the imple- mentation of government’s Integrated Resources Plan 2010 and projects of the Department of Water Affairs that are in the pipeline.