Insulated metallic cable market grew only 1.8% in 2015

CRU estimates that the global insulated metallic wire and cable market grew by just 1.8% in 2015, following a weaker than expected Q4 2015. This growth is well below the long term average growth rate for insulated metallic wire and cable of 3.3%.
 
Market growth was dragged down by a big fall in the Russian market and also falling demand in other important markets such as Brazil, Australia, Japan, France and Canada.
 
In contrast to the metallic cable sector the fiber optic market had another good year with global consumption rising by 16.4%. This strong growth was driven by a 29% rise in the large Chinese market, with Europe being the only major region to see a fall in demand.

It is not surprising that the total value of the global insulated wire and cable market fell sharply, down by 10.0%. This is mainly the result of a 20% fall in the average copper price and a 10% decline in the average aluminium  price, plus a nearly 50% fall in the average oil price which impacts on polymer and transport costs.

This was the fourth consecutive year of falling market value and means that the market has fallen by just over 17% since 2011. We are forecasting a modest increase in the growth rate for the global insulated metallic cable market in 2016, but it will not be until 2017 that this gets back to long term trend rates. For the fiber optic cable market we are forecasting slower growth this year at under 10%, and this slowdown in growth is expected to continue in 2017.