North American Industrial Project Index Slows to 8% Growth

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In August, the North American Industrial Project Index dipped to its lowest point in 32 months at 8.34% growth. The Index peaked when growth hit 40.45% in July 2007. The index is based on $305 billion in industrial projects that have either started construction or are still on track to begin construction in 2008, compared to the $282 billion being tracked during August 2007 with 2007 construction starts.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the North American Industrial Project Index

Industries showing declines in the value of 2008 project construction starts when compared to 2007 include:

• Pulp & Paper, down 40.23%
• Industrial Manufacturing, down 39.46%
• Oil & Gas Terminals, down 23.8%
• Alternative Fuels, down 5.38%.

Industries showing growth in 2008 include:

• Oil & Gas Production, up 143.74%
• Metals & Minerals, up 45.81%
• Chemical Processing, up 40.87%
• Oil & Gas Transmission, up 33.91%
• Petroleum Refining, up 30.41%
• Power, up 25.14%
• Food & Beverage, up 9.93%
• Pharmaceutical, up 13.22%.

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.