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In the Belgium economy, the foundry sector plays an important
role: the 100-odd craft or industrial enterprises provide work
for 6000 people and turn out 180,000 tonnes of foundrywork.
Economic situation.
With few natural resources, Belgium most important
substantial quantities of raw materials and export a large
volume of manufactured products, making its economy usually
dependent on the state of the world markets. This situation
has been problematic over the past two years with the global
world-wide recession and the war in Iraq is not helping the
demand to increase now.
Inflationist pressures, particularly strong
in 2000, at a level of 2,7%, shown a downward trend to 2,4%
in 2001 and was down to 1,7% in 2002.
Employment whose development is following the
economic activity, still increased with 1,1% in 2001. The
structural unemployment rate in Belgium was 6.8% in 2002 (OCDE).
In a period of declining production, companies
are confronted with increasing salary costs. Wage costs in
Belgium increased during the last five years with 6,7% compared
to 4% in the major Belgian trade partners. Beside the negative
influence on employment, it is a hindering factor for the
competitiveness of the Belgian companies.
To maintain their competitive position, companies
rely on technological development and close collaboration
with their customers. With increased specialisation and investment
in research and development, Belgian foundries are able differentiate
them from outside competition and offer high value added services
to their customers.
Key data
Number of foundries in Belgium
- 21 foundries registered with the European Foundry Association
(CAEF°
- 66 in the Subcontract Solutions database
Costs of development
Metallic addictives
| |
cost in Euro (December 2001)
|
| broken castings |
93.25
|
| cast iron scrap |
98.26
|
| pig iron (hematite) |
250.37
|
Personnel cost
Based on the inquiry towards 35 foundries the
average gross wage per hour amounts to 12.99€ together
with high social charges of 89.5%. The total hourly labour
cost in 2001 at 23.86% and increased with 1.8% compared to
2000.
Energy cost
Production costs:
- electric current: 2001= 58.9€ per mWh
- natural gas: 2001= 4.88 WURO/GJ
Problems in the field of environment protection:
Increased attention from the government is
being given to emissions of the dioxin problem. Measures are
taken in order to reduce the CO2 emissions. In the context
of the Kyoto protocol, Belgium has to reduce its emissions
with 7.5% by 2010 to the level of 1990.
Production, deliveries and orders received
overall
| Total tonnage |
2000
|
2001
|
+/- % 01/00
|
| Steel castings |
12 964
|
11 826
|
-8.87
|
| Iron castings |
137 437
|
137 661
|
+1.64
|
| Non ferrous castings |
27 180
|
26 358
|
-3.02
|
| Total |
177 581
|
175 845
|
-0.97
|
The situation in the material
sector
Steel castings
| Total tonnage |
2000
|
2001
|
+/- % 01/00
|
| carbon steel |
4 693
|
4 539
|
-3.27
|
| manganese steel wear resistant
steel |
1 763
|
1 528
|
-13.32
|
| low alloy steel |
976
|
758
|
-22.30
|
| high alloy steel |
5 532
|
5 000
|
-9.61
|
| Total |
12 964
|
11 826
|
-8.78
|
The total production of steel castings declined
quite strongly (-8.78%) compared to the previous year. All
subcategories are undergoing a decline.
Iron castings
| total tonnage |
2000
|
2001
|
+/- % 01/00
|
| iron |
80 828
|
79 557
|
-1.57
|
The total volume of 2001 slightly declined
(-1.57%) compared to 2000. The most important market of iron
castings is the mechanical engineering that grew with 5.3%.
Ductile iron castings (nodular and malleable
iron castings)
| total tonnage |
2000 |
2001 |
+/- % 01/00 |
| nodular iron castings |
18 485 |
19 450 |
+5.22 |
| other iron castings |
38 495 |
38 654 |
+0.14 |
| total ductile iron castings |
56 980 |
68 104 |
+1.97 |
The volume nodular iron castings increased
with 5.22% compared to 2000. The increase is due to the increased
production of engineering machinery.
Non ferrous castings
| total tonnage |
2000
|
2001
|
+/1 % 01/00
|
| copper alloy castings |
555
|
514
|
-7.34
|
| light and ultralight
castings |
25 411
|
24 640
|
-3.03
|
| sandcast and gravity die castings |
21 168
|
20 023
|
-5.41
|
| pressure die casting |
4 243
|
4 555
|
+7.35
|
| zinc |
1 179
|
1 169
|
-0.85
|
| other alloy castings |
34
|
34
|
+/- 0
|
| Total |
27 180
|
26 358
|
-30.2
|
The non ferrous segment is slightly decreasing
on yearly basis (3.02%) mostly due to declining production
of aluminium castings which represents with 93% the main part
of the total volume non-ferrous castings. The pressure die
casting segment increases in volume and compensates the decrease
of gravity die casting.
Location of the main consumer areas for the
foundry products in Belgium
Mechanical engineering (machine manufacturing)
The increasing activity of the mechanical engineering
is mainly due to the increased activity in the railway sector.
Deliveries towards other application sectors declined and
are thus following the general economic evolution.
Construction sector
The Belgian construction sector is likely to
experience a less favourable situation. In 2001 activity declined
with 4.6%.
House building
The situation in the house building is likely
to be difficult and is expected to decrease further in 2002
with 3.2%. Segments such as a central heating and stove parts
and accessories remain stable.
Civil engineering projects
There are perspectives for major rail infrastructures
investments.
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