Fluid Power Shipments Drop in November 2024
The National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) has released its latest fluid power shipments and orders data for November 2024 which shows further declines occurred during the month.
Total fluid power shipments fell 9.6% from the previous month and 14.5% compared to November 2023. The 3/12 and 12/12 rates of change for total fluid power, hydraulic, and pneumatic shipments remain negative and continue to trend downward.
For much of 2024 the fluid power industry, as well as its various customer segments, reported challenging market conditions. Tim LaCrosse, Business Development & Application Engineering Manager at Parker Hannifin, noted in an interview with Power & Motion that the lingering supply chain challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic was among the factors impacting the hydraulics industry in 2024. However, he does see lead times starting to normalize for some components; this paired with many OEMs entering their next design cycles could lead to improved market conditions in the coming months.
High interest rates also plagued the industry because in many cases it dampened demand for construction, agriculture and other machinery hydraulics and pneumatics are typically utilized in. This, among other global economic concerns, kept many businesses from making investments that would then lead to sourcing of fluid power components Andy Thedjoprasetyono, Manager, New Product Marketing at SMC. Corp. told Power & Motion.
Interest rate cuts in late 2024, and at least one more expected in 2025, are expected to help improve market conditions in 2025. Lauren Saidel-Baker, CFA, an economist at ITR Economics, said during the NFPA's fall economic webinar that macroeconomic signals are improving which should help fluid power shipments make a return to more positive territory.
Read more insights from the NFPA economic webinar and Power & Motion's discussions with fluid power industry experts in the below articles.
Macroeconomic Trends to Watch in 2025
The charts in this media gallery are supplied by NFPA and drawn from data collected from more than 70 manufacturers of fluid power products by NFPA’s Confidential Shipment Statistics (CSS) program.
