BRIC States 2011: Exports continue to boom

The so-called BRIC States are rapidly catching up with large industrial nations such as Germany, the USA and Japan. Brazil, Russia, India and China all have annual growth rates of between 5 and 10 % – much larger than the previously dominant countries.

Record sales in India, continuing high levels in China – and Russia is developing rapidly

It is also these BRIC States which are continuing to maintain HEROSE‘s present export boom. Here is an overview:

Brazil

The strongest economic nation in South America has already left countries such as Spain and Canada a long way behind in terms of gross national product and is now at 8th place globally. The increasing importance of Brazil for the gas industry is documented by the fact that the largest gas vessel manufacturers, INOX from India and VRV from Italy will soon start producing vessels locally and are also setting up a maintenance infrastructure.
Brazil is also interesting because global players are increasingly considering the booming country as a base for their entire South American activities. Another indicator: The Gasworld Conference, which was attended by HEROSE Manager Dirk Zschalich and Sales Manager Volker Maass, was held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2011.

Russia

Although in the initial phase HEROSE concentrated its activities on the capital city of Moscow, it is now visiting cities on the far side of the Urals, such as Jekaterinburg. Ralf Dankert-Paulsen, who has now been responsible for sales in Eastern Europe for a year, sees extremely good growth opportunities for the Russian market: “For one thing, there is an enormous backlog for maintenance of older vessels. As well as this, Russia’s new industry will require large amounts of technical gases. Finally, they have great plans for LNG. Liquid gas will be used to power railway locomotives and even aircraft – and with an enormous fleet of new railway trucks the LNG will be transported from the gas fields, for example in Sachalin, to consumers throughout the country.”

In this enormous country Dankert-Paulsen is supported by the partner companies Monitoring and Surowikow. During the past, HEROSE was represented at two important trade fairs in Moscow: at the Cryogen Expo and at the safety valve exhibition PCV. Dankert-Paulsenconcludes: “You have to be patient. Russian business partners take a long time to develop a trusting relationship – but once that happens you have very loyal customers.”

India

The economy of the sub-continent is developing at breathtaking speed. Especially interesting for HEROSE: photovoltaic, semiconductor and aerospace companies. Keith Stewart is active for HEROSE in Asia: “In these fields of industry an especially large volume of technical gases are required, because production has to be carried out with the exclusion of oxygen.” This is a field which is of double interest to HEROSE. Valves are needed both on the vessels and on the way to the application. Vessel manufacturers Cryolor from France and VRV from Italy have started to produce vessels there, in order to serve the South East Asian market from India. Since 2006 the HEROSE partner is IWI, with headquarters in Manjalpur, Baroda, India. The past year has seen record sales by HEROSE in India.

China

For HEROSE, this enormous country remains in first place among the BRIC countries with regard to sales, even if the growth rate has recently reduced a little. HEROSE has a large presence in China and in 2009 a Chinese subsidiary was established in Hangzhou.
HEROSE valves are also sold in China by an LNG agent in Puyang City and an industrial gas agent in Shanghai. Keith Stewart: “The fact that we are increasingly gaining a foothold with vessel customers is also positive. I expect a great deal from the LNG market, which has an enormous potential for the future in China.” HEROSE is also present at all the important exhibitions, the last one was the IG China in Peking at the end of September 2011.

Photo: © claudiozacc – Fotolia