Southwest Market Region Reports Healthy Industrial Project Growth During the First Quarter of 2005

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The number of plant closures in the Southwest region of the United States declined by almost 61%, when comparing the first quarter of 2005 against 2004, and planned project spending increased by almost 100%. A decline in the number of plant closures was met with the startup of nine new plants within the region in the first quarter of the year equaling an estimated 1,100 new job opportunities.

The plant owners in Southwest market region, consisting of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas, have enjoyed continued growth over the past several years, as general economics have improved and profits have risen to a level that have begun to adequately cover the continued high cost of feedstock and energy resources. Industrialinfo.com reported 266 capital and maintenance projects planned for construction starts across all industries in the Southwest for the first quarter of 2005, and only 204 for the same time period last year, equaling an increase of nearly 23%.

Click on the image at right to view a comparison of 1Q04 to 1Q05 projects for the Southwest Region.

Looking more closely at the increase in project activity, the industry segments showing the most improvement in the number of projects were Chemical Processing, with an increase of seventeen projects, or 28%; Industrial Manufacturing, with twelve additional projects reported over 2004, equaling an increase of nearly 38%; and Terminal Storage, also with a gain over last year of ten projects, totaling a 38% increase in project activity.

Many industry observers have speculated for months about what the continued increase in the cost of crude would do to the region's momentum. At the moment, the effect of crude's having topped $50 per barrel has not slowed the trend of capital investments in the region from continuing their upward trend. The cost of natural gas remains high, but has also remained relatively predictable.

The region continues to attract a growing number of pharmaceutical investments, with three new plants starting up during the first quarter of this year, representing an overwhelming 41% of the 1,100 new jobs in the region. Project spending in this segment is expected to more than double in 2005 within the Southwestern states, compared to 2004, totaling nearly a billion dollars in capital and maintenance spending.

As new industrial plants across all twelve of the industries reported by Industrialinfo.com become operational, each is included in the Online Plant Directory for the Southwest market region. Industrialinfo.com provides access to thousands of industrial process plants, with management contacts for each, through the continuously updated Online Plant Directory. Reported projects for this same region and others are provided through another dynamic Industrialinfo.com tool called PECWeb Direct.

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