North America Industrial Project Spending Up 22.6% in January Year-over-Year

Industrial Info's most recent North American Industrial Project Spending Index shows active project spending in the U.S. in January increased 22.6% year-over-year, continuing a positive trend that began in January 2021.

The Project Spending Index is a monthly indicator that compares active spending rates with the same month in the previous year to get a measure of growth or contraction in the industrial market. The index provides spending details by industry and market region.

For January, all but two of the 12 industries tracked by Industrial Info posted year-over-year increases in active project spending. The Metals & Minerals Industry saw the largest gain percentage-wise, jumping nearly 65.5% and totaling $92.4 billion.

Both long- and short-term drivers are leading to an increase in global Metals & Minerals project activity, particularly for environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related projects, according to a February 15 webinar conducted by Industrial Info's Vice President of Metals & Minerals Industry Research, Joe Govreau, and Shaheen Chohan, vice president of Global Analytics. Global capital spending for mining projects is on the rise, with eight of the top major mining firms increasing capital spending about 8.7% in 2022 versus 2021, according to the webinar presentation. For related information, see February 16, 2023, article - IIR Webinar: Global Metals & Minerals Projects on the Rise.

Industrial Info is tracking more than $22 billion worth of Metals & Minerals projects that are under construction in the U.S. Among them is United States Steel Corporation's (U.S. Steel) (NYSE:X) (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) $3 billion Osceola Steel Minimill Addition in Osceola, Arkansas. Planned for completion in late 2024, the new steel minimal will include two state-of-the-art electric arc furnaces with 3 million tons per year of advanced steelmaking capability. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Project Database can click here for the project report.

Other industries that posted strong year-over-year gains in January included Oil & Gas Production (rising 55.6% to $159.8 billion) and Food & Beverage (rising 40.2% to $55.1 billion).

On the other hand, the North American Construction Starts Index for January was $32.2 billion, down 46.5% when compared with January 2022. The value of projects that kicked off construction in January was down in all but four industries tracked by Industrial Info. By project count, however, construction starts were down in just four of the 12 industries tracked by Industrial Info.

In the U.S., economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in January for the third consecutive month following a 28-month period of growth, according to the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) Report on Business survey. The survey report said the ISM's January Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI), which tracks 18 industry sectors in the U.S, registered 47.4%--a decrease of 1 percentage point from December. For more information, see February 6, 2023, article - ISM: U.S. Manufacturing Activity Dips for Third Straight Month.