Hydraulics Market COVID-19 Impact: Reports Indicate a Rebound

With the onset of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, many businesses were forced to shut down their manufacturing plants and halt most of their operations. The Hydraulics market took a hit as the entire supply chain was interrupted.

In 2023, however, authoritative studies such as the Markets and Markets Report show it’s not only recovered - it has continued to grow at a steady pre-COVID pace, largely correlated to an increased demand for hydraulic equipment across various industries.

Interact Analysis’ report on the mobile hydraulics market, released in the spring of 2022, shows a boom in the material handling sector but shows demand for construction equipment benefited the market as well.

The growth of the market since 2020 can be attributed to:

• Growing construction activities which create significant demand for hydraulic equipment
• Increasing demand for material handling equipment
• Rising demand for advanced agriculture equipment
• Growing adaptation of hydraulic equipment by various industries

The research indicated that, despite stagnation caused during the pandemic, there has been an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2% between 2019 and 2021. Further growth is predicted to continue, and further, revenues are expected rise, reflecting the impact of economic inflation.

At Hydraulic Parts Source, a hydraulic parts remanufacturer located in Michigan, we’ve seen growth in 2021-2023 that is on par with these industry-wide figures.

Rebound Benefits Hydraulics Sectors

According to the Interact Analysis report referenced above, the Americas rebounded in 2021 from the contractions seen in 2020. The research firm expects this rebound to continue into 2022 as order backlogs are met and major infrastructure projects go into effect around 2026.

Key Sectors Expected to Grow:

• Heavy-duty mobile equipment applications such as construction, agriculture and material handling
• The material handling sector, which accounted for 25% of the market in 2020, is expected to increase its share to 28.8%, while outpacing the growth of the overall market
• The construction market is expected to continue to see growth according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), which expects increases across the board

Agriculture machinery is another strong market for hydraulics, and the AEM reports that demand for agricultural equipment is expected to continue to be above normal levels.

It’s good news for manufacturers, remanufacturers, and distributors alike that the hydraulics market is performing well and is expected to continue doing so.

After the global economy began to recover in the second half of 2020 and throughout 2021, many experts believe market conditions will remain positive, even if growth rates will slow nearing the end of 2022 as our inflationary economic environment comes to a head.

Looking Ahead

Besides slowing growth, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the value chain of the hydraulics market. In the Markets and Markets annual report, however, you will find both pessimistic views of how far negative impacts of the pandemic will reach beyond 2020, alongside optimistic views of what positive opportunities are to come beyond 2023.

Optimistically, it has been estimated that the hydraulics market’s decline in market growth due to low demand and temporary shutdown of manufacturing plants in 2020 has put various players in the game to continue to innovate and grow to meet an even market higher demand on the backside of this pandemic.

In the past few years, for instance, there has been an increase in the demand for smart hydraulics equipment across industries, such as agriculture, material handling, aerospace, metals & machinery manufacturing, automotive, mining, marine, and oil & gas. This new demand is bringing out the innovators who seek to use this opportunity to drive their own growth, which contributes strongly to the market growth in the post-pandemic period.

Although our market took a hit in the first half of the decade due to these early interruptions, hydraulics has appeared to rebound and will continue to see growth.