A recent report by the Freedonia Group has forecast rising demand of 7.4% annually for advanced ceramics demand in the USA, reaching a value of more than US$11,000M in 2008. US demand began to pick up in 2003 and strong growth is anticipated from virtually all advanced ceramic end use sectors. Consumption of advanced ceramics is closely allied to performance in the electronics and electrical sectors, which accounted for 55% of total US demand in 2003. Electronics applications and other important consumers such as transportation equipment, industrial machinery, chemicals and plastics were adversely impacted by the economic slump of the early 2000s. However, demand for electronics is set to increase by 9.3%/pa achieving a value of US$4,300M in 2008, according to the report, spurred on by the growth of entertainment, communications and computing products.
