At the heart of the Western Europe market both economically and in industrial gas circles is Germany. An industrial heartland and home to Tier 1 players The Linde Group and Messer Group, respectively, it is one of the largest of the regional markets.
The country’s gases industry has been usurped in value in recent years by China (see table, right) but still sits comfortably ahead of fellow European hubs France, Italy, UK and Spain and one of the fast-growing emerging markets, Brazil.
This is a position that it will likely maintain in the near future, especially with recent reports of an economy that continues to gather pace and a stronger than expected fall in unemployment.
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