Global industrial robot market set for ‘steady’ 5-7 percent growth, predicts new forecast

A recent Interact Analysis forecast predicts that the industrial robots market will continue to grow around five to seven percent until 2027.

Interact Analysis explains in a press statement that global economic volatility and supply chain disruptions are having a huge impact on the market for industrial robots, which has led to project delays and decreased spending on automation projects. Despite this, long-term projections remain steady, with electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing and new energy-related applications fueling global demand for industrial robots.

Interact Analysis recently published updated forecasts for the industrial robot market, and they mark the most significant revisions compared to the 2022 version of the report. From 2023 onwards, the market intelligence company predicts investment confidence will continue to be low in the short term, causing end-users to delay large capital investments on industrial robotics projects. In the long term, demand from new EV manufacturing lines and from service sectors such as intra-logistics will further fuel the market. This, according to Interact Analysis, will result in an average growth rate of five to seven percent, which is much higher than the pre-COVID period.

Following a slow 2020 due to the pandemic, the industrial robot market witnessed substantial growth in 2021. It had a year-on-year increase of 34.9 percent. The market cooled slightly in 2022 but still expanded, registering 11.9 percent unit shipment and 14.9 percent revenue growth. The pandemic helped to fuel demand for the robotics industry as companies turn to automation as a way of alleviating labour shortages. Many companies are now investing in industrial automation in order to add stability to their workforce should future crises occur.

In 2022, the American market for industrial robots was estimated to be worth $2.8 billion, accounting for 19.8 percent of global revenues, with 55,268 units shipped.

Sharing her comments on the forecast, Maya Xiao, research manager at Interact Analysis says, “Interestingly, in 2022 the average selling price of industrial robots increased for the first time in the last 10 years, as a result of raw material cost, component shortages and supply chain disruptions. Despite this, we forecast that average prices will decrease over the next five years. The increased demand for industrial robots from the material handling and welding sectors has had and will continue to have, an impact on average selling prices. As a result of this, demand for heavy-duty models has once again increased, which has altered the payload distribution of the robot market. However, overall, we expect to see a three percent annual decline in prices over the next five years.”