Statistics Explained

Archive:Metal casting statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1

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Data from January 2009. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article belongs to a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the various economic activities in the European Union (EU). The present article covers metal casting, corresponding to NACE Rev 1.1 Group 27.5, which is part of the metals and metal products sector. The activities covered in this article include a range of metals (including iron, steel, light metals and other non-ferrous metals), and involves the manufacture of semi-finished castings for downstream customers.

The information presented does not include the manufacture of standardised, finished products (such as tubes, see Iron and steel production and processing statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1) or boilers or radiators (see Boilers, metal containers and steam generators production statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1).

Note also that there are no external trade statistics for foundry work services (CPA Group 27.5).

Table 1: Casting of metals (NACE Group 27.5). Structural profile: ranking of top five Member States in terms of value added and persons employed, 2006

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

Table 2: Casting of metals (NACE Group 27.5). Expenditure, productivity and profitability, EU-27, 2006 (1)

The activity of the casting of metals (NACE Group 27.5) was carried out by 6.7 thousand enterprises across the EU-27 in 2006. From a turnover of EUR 37.6 billion, these enterprises generated EUR 11.8 billion of added value in 2006, which was the smallest contribution (4.8 %) to the value added of the metals and metal products manufacturing (NACE Subsection DJ) sector. The casting of metals sector employed an estimated 270.0 thousand persons in the Member States in 2006, about one in every twenty (5.3 %) of the EU-27’s metals and metal products manufacturing workforce which was a slightly higher share than that recorded for basic precious and non-ferrous metals (NACE Group 27.4).

The casting of iron (NACE Class 27.51) and the casting of light metals (NACE Class 27.53) were the two largest activities within the casting of metal, together providing about three quarters (73.3 %) of the EU-27’s value added in 2006.

Germany generated more value added than any other Member State for most of the subsectors of the metals and metal products sector; its share of EU-27 value added was highest, however, for the casting of metals (36.8 %). By way of comparison, this was almost exactly the same share of value added as came from the next three largest Member States combined – Italy (16.2 % of EU-27 value added), France (10.6 %) and Spain (10.1 %). However, the proportional contribution made by this sector to non-financial business economy value added in 2006 was highest in Slovenia (0.8 %), where it was almost four times the average size within the EU-27. In these terms, the Czech Republic and then Germany were the next most specialised Member States[1] for the casting of metals.

There was a very close match between the development of the EU-27’s production index for metals and metal products manufacturing and that for the casting of metals in the period between 1997 and 2007. Over the ten-year period as a whole, the output of the casting of metals in the EU-27 rose by an average 1.8 per year.

Expenditure and productivity

Although tangible investment of EUR 1.7 billion in the casting of metal sector represented only 5.1 % of tangible investment across all metals and metal products manufacturing activities in 2006, this was a higher proportion than this sector's contribution to value added. In these relative terms, therefore, the EU-27 investment rate (14.3 %) for the casting of metals sector was slightly higher than the rate (13.6 %) for metals and metal products manufacturing. Average personnel costs in the EU-27’s casting of metals sector were EUR 33.0 thousand per employee in 2006, an almost identical figure to the average for all metals and metal products manufacturing. As a proportion of operating expenditure, however, personnel costs in the casting of metals sector accounted for a relatively high share (24.5 %) both in comparison to metals and metal products manufacturing (19.2 %) and more particularly the non-financial business economy (16.1 %).

The average amount of added value generated by each person in the EU-27’s casting of metals sector was EUR 43.7 thousand in 2006, about one tenth (9.3 %) less than the average for the whole of the metals and metal products manufacturing sector. With similar average personnel costs in 2006, the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio (132.3 %) for the casting of metals sector remained a similar proportion below the ratio (149.3 %) for all metals and metal products manufacturing. This relatively low wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio was a feature of the four NACE classes within the casting of metals sector. It was also a characteristic common to the majority of the Member States, the principal exception being in Ireland where the ratio for the casting of metals sector was significantly higher than the ratio across all metals and metal products manufacturing.

Data sources and availability

The main part of the analysis in this article is derived from structural business statistics (SBS), including core, business statistics which are disseminated regularly, as well as information compiled on a multi-yearly basis, and the latest results from development projects.

Context

The metals and metal products manufacturing sector is part of a diverse and interwoven economic network that incorporates upstream sectors and large downstream segments of manufacturing such as the transport equipment manufacturing and construction sectors. The challenges faced by the EU’s metals and metal products manufacturing sector therefore have direct and indirect consequences on many other parts of the economy. Looking ahead, a Communication (COM(2008) 108) from the European Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the competitiveness of the metals industries was adopted in February 2008, and highlighted the challenges to be faced.

The EU-27 is largely dependent on imports of ore and concentrates for steel, ferro-alloys and non-ferrous metals production; it produces only 1.7 % of the world’s nickel, 2 % of its iron ore and 5 % of its copper (SEC(2007) 771). Access to minerals and secondary raw materials at competitive prices is important, especially given the exhaustion of certain deposits in the EU-27 over time or their absence, and supply constraints that have been exacerbated by the strong growth in international demand from emerging economies such as China and India. This concern was part of a raw materials initiative of the European Commission (COM(2008) 699).

Parts of the metals and metal products manufacturing sector are highly energy-intensive. Energy costs for the EU-27’s metals and metal products manufacturing sector accounted for 4.4 % of purchases of goods and services in 2006, which was the third joint highest proportion among the industrial structural business statistics sectors, albeit well behind non-energy mining and quarrying (10.1 %) and other nonmetallic mineral products (9.5 %). Within this sector, however, energy costs in the casting of metals subsector accounted for 7.2 % of purchases of goods and services in 2006 and in the first processing of ferrous metals as much as 7.9 %. This level of energy consumption has important implications for energy and environmental (particularly climate change) policy.

The metals and metal products manufacturing sector is covered by a Directive on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) and REACH. A proposal from the European Commission on the review of EU Emissions trading system (ETS) adopted in January 2008 (COM(2008) 30) foresees the inclusion of non-ferrous metals from 2013 onwards, along with some transitional measures to avoid ‘carbon leakage’.

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

Dedicated section

Further information

Notes

  1. ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland, Portugal and Romania, 2005; Latvia, Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
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