2017 Yearly Overview | Prysmian Group

9 The emerging quartet Cable volume growth Prysmian Group was confirmed as the undisputed market leader after winning major turnkey interconnector contracts in Europe and Asia; the IFA2 between France and the UK, the CNP-3 between the islands of Cebu and Negros in the Philippines, and a project to develop offshore wind farms in France, for example. In a largely stable market for high voltage underground cables, the Group retained its market share in Europe and North America. The Industrial business unit saw a mixed trend for the various market niches. Cables for the automotive and railway infrastructure industries reported double-digit growth, and Core Cables in the Oil &Gas segment benefited from a resumption in activity to develop new onshore projects in the USA and Middle East. Undisputed market leadership China improved thanks to the 2017 continuation of measures to support and stimulate the housing market and infrastructure investment. Economic growth once again exceeded the average of other emerging countries, rising from +6.7% to 6.8%, even beating the government target. India reported a growth of +6.7% in 2017, slightly down from the year before, but still confirming itself as one of the main drivers of the region. Renewed political stability and a gradual recovery in main commodity prices helped the Brazilian economy resume its growth after two years in recession, recording +1.1% after contracting 3.5% in 2016. Some stabilisation of the geopolitical scenario allowed Russia to improve from -0.2% in 2016 to 1.8% in 2017. Global demand for power cables in 2017 saw marked volume growth, mainly driven by a recovery in Brazil after two years of downturn, and by China, where growth continued to beat the world average. Demand for optical cables continued to grow apace, fuelled by further acceleration in China and two-digit growth in Europe and North America. The main area of weakness was the Middle East, where geopolitical uncertainty adversely affected regional economies. In the USA and Europe, demand for power cables continued its upward trend, supported by a resurgence in industrial output and consumer confidence. As for the optical market, China accounted for more than 50% of global volume growth, followed by North America and Europe, which both displayed higher growth, while Australia witnessed a stabilisation. The various Group areas witnessed a mixed performance, featuring strong expansion by Optical Fibre, moderate growth for Industrial and Infrastructure, general stability in the European High Voltage underground market and softer demand for cables by utilities, especially in Central Europe. The optical market benefited from growing demand for data transmission capacity, which makes it essential to upgrade existing network infrastructure.