What does 2010 hold in store for composites?

When I first started working on Reinforced Plastics I was told that, as a general rule of thumb, composites industry growth was a couple of percent higher than GDP. So what is the economy going to look like in 2010?

In its economic predictions for 2010, forecasting company IHS Global Insight predicts that global GDP will grow only 2.8% in 2010, with most emerging markets (and particularly Asia) outpacing the developed economies.

The company's top 3 economic predictions for 2010 are:

• The US recovery will start slowly, with growth in the 2.0-2.5% range for most of 2010. Housing and capital spending on equipment are expected to show 'respectable' gains, but consumer spending will rise just 1.8%.
• Europe and Japan will rebound slower than the USA. The Eurozone and UK economies are expected to grow 0.9% and 0.8% respectively in 2010. Some Western European economies – Iceland, Ireland and Spain – will continue to contract, while Japan will do better with GDP growth of 1.4%.
• Growth in all the emerging regions will recover in 2010 and, with the possible exception of Emerging Europe, will outpace the USA, Europe, and Japan. Non-Japan Asia will see GDP growth of 7.1%; Latin America, the Middle East and Africa will see gains in the 3-4% range; while Emerging Europe will expand only 1.7%.

So it seems there's some good, and some bad, news, depending on which regions of the world you operate in. And of course things can change, but it is good to start to see the word 'growth' again ...

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