The global market for Copper Pipes & Tubes is expected to slump by -13.2% in the year 2020 highlighting a 0.53 million ton erosion in consumption volume. Thereafter the market is expected to recover and reach 4.8 million tons by the year 2027 trailing a post-COVID-19 CAGR of 4.6% over the analysis period 2020 to 2027.The human cost of the pandemic is continuing to grow and is expected to deal an unprecedented blow to people, businesses and economies worldwide. Seven months into the pandemic, infections worldwide are continuing to spiral. Continuing lockdowns, labor shortages, mobility challenges, supply chain disruptions, financial distress and plummeting investments have impacted a bulk of construction activity worldwide. Diversion of government funds from infrastructure development to pandemic firefighting has additionally impacted the construction industry, which is dependent to a large extent on infrastructure projects. Spending billions of dollars on pandemic management and healthcare system upgrades, governments world over are now facing rapidly depleting fiscal coffers and widening fiscal deficits. Over the last eight months alone, the U.S. budget deficit widened to US$1.8 trillion as a result of the spending blitz to combat the pandemic. Falling tax revenue is additionally aggravating the financial woes.

Like the U.S. several countries worldwide jacked up spending necessary to stabilize economies rocked by double-digit unemployment and a severe contraction in economic growth. Governments are declaring bailout packages for businesses and industries. Over 19 countries have declared bailout packages. Governments are opening up their war chest to rescue their economies. 15 countries together have allocated US$2.78 trillion, underlining the magnitude of the crisis. These financial measures for damage control to prevent complete meltdown of domestic economies will have knock-on effects for government spending elsewhere. Against this backdrop planned infrastructure investments are receiving steep budget cuts. In several countries, all non-essential construction projects have been put on hold with the exception of building emergency hospitals for COVID-19 care. Residential construction is taking a beating with millions of people worldwide pushed into unemployment as businesses either go bankrupt or layoff workforce to stay afloat. Unemployment rates are climbing to worrisome levels in both developed and developing economies alike.

In the United States, the worst hit by the pandemic, the devastation wreaked on the country`s economy can be put into perspective by the fact that currently over 50% of the country`s population is now unemployed. Over 33 million Americans are unemployed and the share of population unemployed dropped sharply from a recent high of 62% in January 65.7% in July 2020. With the labor market in doldrums, consumer spending is plummeting. The loss in consumer confidence and erosion of household wealth and discretionary spending will impact virtually every industry and business worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has therefore pushed consumers to conserve cash. With unemployment rates rising amid the virus induced economic crisis, consumers are cutting spending budgets. Social outlook against this background remains grim with households expected witness erosion in wealth. Personal financial outlook, community, economy, job security confidence, purchasing and investment confidence are all tumbling as the human and economic cost of the global pandemic rises. For the construction industry, this brings bad news as new housing starts go into deep freeze. The long shadow of the coronavirus is thwarting home-buying plans of consumers. Also, widening government deficits is reducing the appetite for smart cities. Public and private investments in smart cities are expected to plummet in the year 2020. With countries seeing a second wave of infections, the Covid-19 resurgence is likely to undermine the much awaited chances of a V-shaped recovery. Challenges of maintaining social distancing at construction sites is resulting in difficulties in obtaining project clearances from regulatory authorities. Ensuring raw material availability still remains a challenge for most construction contractors.

Manufacturing, on the other hand, also remains equally affected. The worst affected industry in this pandemic driven crisis is manufacturing with its complex supply chains, labor intensive processes, and interdependencies. Division of labor, modular manufacturing strategies, outsourcing to reduce costs and increase the efficiency, consistency, and quality of each operations, have made the manufacturing sector most vulnerable amid the lockdown restrictions. An indication of the grim state of affairs is the fact that global manufacturing PMI is already declining and will fall to an estimated all-time low of 35.4 points in 2020 as compared to 53.8 in 2019. This indicates severe contraction of manufacturing activity including new orders, production, employment, supplier deliveries, inventories, customers` inventories, commodity prices, order backlog, new export orders, and imports. Global industrial output is plummeting sharply with the U.S posting steep declines of -16.5% & -15.2% in March & April 2020.

In the post COVID-19 period, growth will be led by recovering demand for strong, durable and corrosion-resistant piping and tubing solutions in applications such as HVAC&R, underground water and gas distribution, non-flammable medical-gas system and fuel-oil systems; demand for copper tubes in heat exchanger systems; and recovery in building construction and renovation and the ensuing need for plumbing solutions. Key benefits of copper pipes and tubes driving their widespread adoption include high-level workability; extended bending flexibility; sanitary and antibacterial properties; superior wear and fatigue endurance; versatility; high thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance; durability and low maintenance load; availability in a wide range of sizes; high levels of safety as the metal is slow to support combustion and decompose in the presence of toxic gases; 100% recyclability; and lightweight feature that makes transportation, handling and installation easy. Poised to score the highest gains during this period will be specialty copper tubes such as high-performance copper tubes, oxygen-free copper tubes and MIG welding tubes. Asia-Pacific will remain a major market led by factors such as rising investments in new infrastructure projects; spurt in real estate development; favorable socio-economic factors; higher than global average level of commercial, industrial and institutional activity; preference for copper tubes in water distribution networks given the metal`s bactericidal properties; government focus on migrating to piped natural gas distribution as compared to the current cylinder refills.