North American Project Spending Index for March Indicates 21% Growth in 2008

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Continuing a downward trend that began at the beginning of the year, growth of planned industrial project spending in North America shrank for the third consecutive month in 2008. However, project spending this year is experiencing 21% growth when compared with 2007. Currently, there is almost $374 billion worth of industrial projects which have begun or are scheduled to begin construction in 2008.

Click on the image at right to view the North American Industrial Spending Index Chart (Represents a correction from the last published report).

Industrial Info has identified more than $35 billion in industrial projects that have already started construction this year. For example, Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina) has initiated construction on a $2.4 billion unit #6 addition at its power plant in Cliffside, North Carolina.

Most industries are experiencing significant growth in 2008 with the exception of Chemical Processing; Pulp, Paper & Wood; and Industrial Manufacturing. Chemical Processing is showing slightly declining to no growth with project spending at $9.24 billion in 2008, compared with $9.64 in 2007. Pulp, Paper & Wood project spending has decreased by 41.5% from $4.52 billion in 2007to $2.64 billion in 2008. Project spending in Industrial Manufacturing has decreased from $56.57 billion in 2007 to $29.94 billion in 2008.

Most of the growth continues to occur in the energy sector with Oil & Gas Production taking the lead with 147.2% growth increasing from $3.06 billion in 2007up to $7.56 billion in 2008. Most of spending for the Oil & Gas Production Industry will occur in Western Canada and the Rocky Mountain regions.

The North American Project Spending Index is a monthly indicator, comparing the total investment value of the current year to the previous year based on actual project construction starts, in order to get a measure of growth or contraction in the industrial market. The index takes into consideration project spending activity in 12 vertical industries: Power; Terminals; Oil & Gas Transmission; Oil & Gas Production; Alternative Fuels; Petroleum Refining; Chemical Processing; Metals & Minerals; Pulp, Paper, & Wood; Food & Beverage; Industrial Manufacturing; and Pharmaceutical & Biotech.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.