In 2008, more than 12.6 million tons of castings in the U.S. were valued at more than $31.5 billion. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest producer of castings (China is first), followed by Japan, Russia, Germany and India.

You may not realize it, but cast products are all around you. If a given product is not cast itself, it is almost assured that castings were used to produce it. More than 90% of all manufactured goods and capital equipment use castings as engineered components or rely on castings for their manufacture. 

While there are literally thousands of markets that use metal castings, the largest (in terms of tonnage) are: automotive and light truck (31% of the total); pipe and fittings (15%); construction, mining and oil field equipment (6%); internal combustion engines; railroad equipment; valves; farm machinery; municipal castings and pumps/compressors. All sectors of the U.S. military also rely on metal castings for tank, truck, jet engine and other vital components.

Recent interviews with casting users indicate that most market sectors are experiencing losses in shipments in the first quarter of 2009 as the domino effect of poor sales has affected markets beyond automotive and housing starts. These losses indicate that the metalcasting industry will struggle to rebound in the next three quarters to match 2008’s tonnage and sales.

The production of light vehicles fell close to 30% in the first quarter of 2009. Medium to heavy truck and trailer production is expected to fall to about 190,000 units after dropping in 2008, and orders for railroad freight cars in 2009 are expected to fall to 40,000.

Based on these and other first quarter statistics, total metal casting shipments are reforecast to decrease 2,300,000 in 2009 versus 2008.

For more information on metalcasting, try the following articles recently published in MODERN CASTING and
Metal Casting Design & Purchasing (formerly Engineered Casting Solutions):