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Archive:Boilers, metal containers and steam generators production 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 the production of boilers, metal containers and steam generators, which is part of the metals and metal products sector. The activities covered in this article correspond to two different NACE Rev 1.1 groups, which are the manufacture of:

  • metal tanks, reservoirs and containers, as well as central heating radiators and boilers (corresponding to NACE Group 28.2);
  • steam generators, for example, vapour generators, condensers and nuclear reactors (NACE Group 28.3).

The manufacture of boilers, containers and steam generators supplies various downstream sectors, most notably those of construction (see Construction statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1), fuel processing and chemicals (see Fuel processing and chemicals production statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1), and network supply of electricity, gas and steam (see Electricity, gas and steam production and distribution statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1).

Table 1: Manufacture of tanks, reservoirs and containers of metal; manufacture of central heating radiators and boilers; manufacture of steam generators, except central heating hot water boilers (NACE Groups 28.2 and 28.3). Structural profile, EU-27, 2006 (1)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

Table 2: Manufacture of tanks, reservoirs and containers of metal; manufacture of central heating radiators and boilers; manufacture of steam generators, except central heating hot water boilers (NACE Groups 28.2 and 28.3). Structural profile: ranking of top five Member States in terms of value added and persons employed, 2006
Figure 1: Manufacture of tanks, reservoirs and containers of metal; manufacture of central heating radiators and boilers; manufacture of steam generators, except central heating hot water boilers (NACE Groups 28.2 and 28.3). Index of production, EU-27 (2000=100)
Table 3: Manufacture of tanks, reservoirs and containers of metal; manufacture of central heating radiators and boilers; manufacture of steam generators, except central heating hot water boilers (NACE Groups 28.2 and 28.3). Expenditure, productivity and profitability, EU-27, 2006

There were 14.8 thousand enterprises throughout the EU-27 for whom the manufacture of boilers, metal containers and steam generators (NACE Groups 28.2 and 28.3) was their principal activity and they provided employment for 316.3 thousand persons in the Member States in 2006 (the equivalent of 6.2 % of the workforce in metals and metal products manufacturing). The boilers, metal containers and steam generators manufacturing sector created EUR 14.2 billion of value added in 2006, corresponding to one third of its turnover, and this came in similar measure from its two subsectors.

France contributed the largest share (28.4 %) of EU-27 value added within the boilers, metal containers and steam generators manufacturing sector in 2006. Germany contributed the second highest amount (20.4 %), the only one of the subsectors of metals and metal products in which Germany did not make the largest contribution to EU-27 output. The boilers, metal containers and steam generators manufacturing sectors in Finland and France both contributed 0.5 % of the value added generated within their respective non-financial business economies, more than any of the other Member States and about twice the EU-27 average.

The development of the production indices for the activities within the manufacture of boilers, metal containers and steam generators were rather different to that for metals and metal products as a whole in the period between 1997 and 2003, after which they were broadly similar. EU-27 output of boilers, reservoirs, containers and central heating radiators and boilers (NACE Group 28.2) fell relatively sharply from 1997, and despite an upsurge in 1999, to a relative low in 2001, after which there was a relatively steady and continuous rise in output through until 2007. Over the ten year period as a whole, the EU-27’s production index for this activity rose by an average 0.7 % per year. In contrast, the production index for the manufacture of steam generators (NACE Group 28.3) rose much more strongly (an average rate of 3.6 % per year), with short-lived cutbacks only being recorded in 1999 and, more particularly, 2003.

Expenditure and productivity

Tangible investment in the EU-27’s boilers, metal containers and steam generators manufacturing sector was EUR 1.2 billion in 2006, which represented a much smaller share (3.7 %) of the tangible investment across metal and metal products activities than the contribution of this sector to value added (5.8 %). The corresponding investment rate (relating tangible investment to value added) of the boilers, metal containers and steam generators manufacturing sector was just 8.7 %, considerably less than the average for all metals and metal products manufacturing. The investment rate in the EU-27’s manufacture of steam generators subsector was only 5.5 % in 2006, by far the lowest rate among the dozen NACE groups covered within the metals and metal products manufacturing sector and the second lowest rate among all industrial NACE groups in 2006, only a little higher than for the manufacture of industrial process control equipment (NACE Group 33.3).

Average personnel costs of EUR 34.5 thousand per employee in the EU-27’s boilers, metal containers and steam generators manufacturing sector were a little higher than the average for all metals and metal products manufacturing in 2006. However, the proportion of operating expenditure accounted for by personnel costs in this sector was substantially higher (26.1 % compared with 19.2 %). Indeed, in the manufacture of steam generators subsector, personnel costs accounted for closer to one third (31.6 %) of all operating expenditure.

The average value added generated by each person employed in the EU-27’s boilers, metal containers and steam generators manufacturing sector was EUR 44.9 thousand in 2006, which was 6.6 % less than the average for all metals and metal products manufacturing. The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of the EU-27’s boilers, metal containers and steam generators manufacturing sector was 130.1 % in 2006, the lowest rate among the seven subsectors of the metals and metal products sector. The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of the boilers, metal containers and steam generators manufacturing sector was lower than the ratio for metals and metal products manufacturing as a whole in all Member States for which data is available[1], with the exception of Italy and the United Kingdom where it was very slightly higher.

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.

Other data sources include short-term statistics (STS).

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. ↑ The Netherlands and Poland, 2005; Denmark, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Malta, not available.
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