The global castings production saw an unprecedented rise of nearly 5.3 percent from 2016 and reached 100 million tonnes of production. Russia led the way with the highest growth rate in 2017, with a jump of 8.3 percent in production from 2016. China witnessed an increase in production by 2 million tonnes achieving a total of 49.4 million tonnes in 2017.

The global increase in the production of lightweight vehicles is the key driver of the growth of the foundry market. This, in turn, has led to an increase in the demand for new cast metal parts in the international market, and the replacement of obsolete metal castings with more energy-efficient metal casting solutions. 

Iron Casting in India clocked a value of 11 million tonnes in 2018, and is slated to expand at a CAGR of ~12.7% between 2018 and 2023. In 2017, the auto sector consumed about 40% of the castings manufacturer in India. As of 2018, aluminium castings constituted about 15 percent of the castings produced in India. The share is projected to increase exponentially by the end of the year 2023, owing to a demand shift from iron to lighter casting material for making automobiles and electronic vehicles (EVs) that are energy-efficient. If the government can help expand the infrastructure, it will generate demand for a range of machinery and equipment including fans, cranes, appliances, motors, conveyor equipment, pumps, etc., which, invariably, will expand demand for metal castings. 

The key foundry clusters are situated in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Agra, Pune, Batala, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Sholapur, Rajkot, Surat, Coimbatore, Belgaum and Chennai among other cities in India. Each of these foundry units meets some application-specific market. The Coimbatore cluster is popular for pump-set castings; the clusters in Belgaum and Kolhapur are famous all over for automotive castings; the Rajkot cluster is known for diesel engine castings. We will continue with more points covering end-user segment growth insights, government initiatives, market growth drivers and key deterrents to market growth in the subsequent blog.