Cables

Cable Market Analysis and Global Outlook

• Asia Pacific holds approx. 35 percent of the global cable market share and will continue to dominate the market. It is expected to grow at the rate of 3-4 percent CAGR over the forecasted period.

• Increasing demand for electricity in the emerging and developed countries backed by increasing investment in the network and building infrastructure is expected to drive the cable market globally. Zero-COVID policy and Russia–Ukraine war have created an impact on the supply market; thereby causing lead time delays and price increase

Global Cables - Market Maturity

• Amidst Omicron spread, the global cable market is gaining its demand traction from various downstream industries, like public infrastructure and construction initiatives and energy transition trends.

Global Cables Market - Trend and Classification

• The outbreak of COVID-19 has had an impact on many industries across sectors, including the manufacturing industry. The resulting lockdown caused significant disruption in the supply chain. The demand is expected to strengthen further in the coming years, driven by increased public infrastructure and construction initiatives and energy transition trends.

• Increasing industrialization, need for power infrastructure, growing demand for telecommunication especially in data network drives the cable market globally. The total market value of cable is projected to reach about 177.70  billion in 2025, at a CAGR of 2–3 percent up until 2025 globally, while the cables market is gaining its momentum post-pandemic first, second wave and omicron spread, due to government’s initiative to build their economy

• The global cables market is widely defined into two broader segments, such as electrical and telecom/datacom cables, which could be used in various end-use applications. They are further categorized into power cable (low voltage, medium voltage, high voltage, and extra high voltage), ext. and int. telecom, winding wire, and fiber optic cable.

• Building wire, vehicle wire, and appliance wire, which are the segments of the LV energy market, hold the major 35 percent of the market, followed by copper and aluminum power cable

Cables Regional Market Outlook - North America

• All major global suppliers have cable manufacturing facilities and a strong distribution network in the region, which makes the supply strong in the region.

• With an increased demand from the OEM/renewable sectors, as well as greater demand for fiber-optic, signal, control, and coaxial cable, the US has witnessed increasing demand. However, the past year had affected the US in a significant manner, as it was the largest pandemic affected nation in terms of number of affected people and death rate.

• Amidst omicron spread, downstream industries are recovering gradually and expected to bring normalcy in coming years. However, a close watch is required to determine the magnitude of supply-demand fluctuations.

• Evolving off-shore wind farm in US will create significant demand for subsea cable in the region.

Global Cables - Drivers and Constraints

Drivers

• Increase in demand from the ICT sector post Covid globally and high demand in intelligent systems and IoT are the key drivers of the telecom cables market

• Increasing adoption of off-shore windmill creates demand for sub-sea cable market

• Cables industry will benefit from growing demand for renewable energy, where cable demand is 3–4 times higher for a 1 GW solar power plant than a conventional 1GW thermal power plant

• The developed countries are integrating wind and other renewable energies. Also, HVDC cables in the electrical transmission, LV cables for building and vehicles, and active fibre optic cable market in the telecom are the huge areas for growth

• The overhead electric transmission is moving underground in large cities, which will drive the demand for cables in future

Constraints

• Regulatory issues that deal with offshore wind farms and difficulty of achieving an optimal interconnection arrangement in subsea cables are also the main constraints in the cables market

• Volatility in copper, aluminum and crude oil prices is expected to restrain the growth of cables globally

• Volatility in raw material prices and an increase in competition has created pressure on the manufacturers’ profit margin, due to which, some of the global suppliers in the industry have shifted their production facilities to regions that facilitate low cost of manufacturing

Supply Market Outlook

Global/ Regional Supplier

• Global suppliers like Prysmian, Nexans, Leoni, Axon and others compete along with regional/local manufacturers like RR Kabels, Saudi cable company and other players, where the supply base is moderately consolidated in nature.

• End use industries like building & infrastructure, power transmission & distribution, mining, telecom drives low voltage, medium voltage, high voltage power cables and copper cable, optical cable segment, followed by automotive industry and others.

Supplier Landscape

• Many Tier 2 companies are involved in cabling services, such as installation and commissioning, maintenance and repairs, supply of spare parts, engineering, etc., thus supporting customers across all industries, increasing the reliability and increasing its service life.

• Emerging supply base like Czech Republic, Taiwan, Vietnam, Mexico gives regional buyers opportunities to the avail advantages like lead time, cost savings and mitigate potential supply chain threats

Engagement Trends

• Contract: There are generally two types of annual contracts for procurement of cables, such as fixed price contracts and variable price contracts

–In fixed price contracts: the price is fixed for a given duration

–In variable price contracts: the client and the supplier get into an agreement, wherein the final price is subject to variation, based on changes in key raw material prices

• Contract Length: Fixed price (24–26 weeks, with a maximum of a year) and variable price (2–5 years)

Cost Structure Analysis –Global

• Copper/aluminum, thermoplastics, rubber materials, and non-metallic elements form the raw materials for cables.

• The raw materials constitutes around 65 percent of the overall cost structure. This cost structure is broken up into process to understand the process-related costs.

Raw Material

• Copper/aluminum is the principal raw material used by the companies in the production of wire and cable products, representing ~50-70% percent of the total raw material costs for wire and cable

• Thermoplastic is used in sheathing and enclosure of copper/aluminum rods as an outer cover

• Rubber and non-metallic paper insulation elements are used inside the cables for strengthening and insulation of cables

Other Costs

• Conversion cost includes machine rate, handling & finishing. while, manufacturing overheads, utility cost, maintenance cost & operator Cost are also included in the machine rate.

• Labor, conversion cost, manufacturing, selling, general and administration costs constitute to ~20 percent of the cable cost structure