The National Fluid Power Association's (NFPA) data on fluid power shipments and orders for February 2023 indicates a continued growth trend on a year-over-year basis despite recent monthly dips. Per NFPA, the 12-month moving average of shipments for pneumatics, hydraulics and total fluid power continued their growth trend.
The year-to-date percent change for total fluid power shipments in February 2023 is 16.8%, which is a decline from the previous month's 21.1%. Mobile hydraulic orders also declined slightly; orders received from March 2022 to February 2023 are 99.6% of those received from March 2021 to February 2022.
NFPA reports that when looking at raw index data, shipments for pneumatics, mobile hydraulics, and industrial hydraulics decreased compared to January 2023.
Although numbers are trending lower for fluid power shipments and orders, the declines are not strong ones and should be taken in context with the strong demand experienced by the industry and its customer segments over the past 2 years. During the NFPA's spring economic webinar, Jim Meil of ACT Research, outlined current market conditions and indicated the hydraulics and pneumatics sector will be among those which continues to fair well in the coming year as growth will continue though at a slower pace.
