North America Industrial Project Spending Index Shows 21% Growth in April 2011

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--North American industrial construction activity continues to improve in 2011. Industrial Info's North America Industrial Project Spending Index is showing 21% growth as of April 2011. This means that confirmed construction starts are up 21% by value compared to the same time last year.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the North America Industrial Project Spending Index.

The number of projects being tracked this year in North America is up significantly from last year. Currently, there are 7,089 major capital and maintenance projects that have begun construction or are scheduled to begin construction in 2011. These projects represent $336.4 billion in total investment value (TIV). Last year at the same time, IIR was tracking 5,719 projects totaling $227.8 billion TIV.

Geographically, the regions showing growth this year in the U.S. are the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New England, Southeast, Southwest and West Coast. In Canada, Quebec and Atlantic Canada are experiencing major growth in project activity. The Great Lakes and Rocky Mountains are currently showing slight declines in growth when compared to last year.

All industries, with the exception of the Petroleum Refining Industry are experiencing growth this year.

So far in 2011, 731 industrial projects have begun construction in North America. In Blythe, California, Solar Millennium LLC (Oakland, California) has started site preparation on a $3 billion concentrated solar power plant. When completed in 2013, the renewable energy plant will generate 500 megawatts of power for the local grid.

In Newfoundland, Vale Inco has started construction on a $2.8 billion commercial-scale nickel hydrometallurgical processing plant. When completed in 2013, the plant will process Nickel concentrate from the company's Voisey Bay mine. Fluor Canada is the engineering, procurement and construction management firm on the project.

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.

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Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.