Hardgoods and gas revenues improved in the third quarter (Q3), according to the latest results of the Baird/gasworld Welding and Industrial Gas Survey.
Hardgoods sales decreased 6%, improved from 13% the previous quarter, while sales of industrial gases were roughly flat.
Less than 30% of respondents saw a slowdown in business activity over the three months, with only 6% experiencing significant deceleration. By contrast, 50% of respondents reported improvement in Q3.
But a return to pre-Covid-19 revenues is expected to drag well into 2021, according to respondents who anticipate hardgoods revenue to increase 0.7% in the Q4 and decrease 0.9% for the full year 2021. Gases are better: respondents believe sales of industrial gases will increase 2.4% in Q4 and 2.9% for the full year 2021. More than half of welding respondents do not expect revenues to fully recover until second half of next year, or later.
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