Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

In recent decades, few market segments involving the manufacture of precast concrete parts have been so heavily influenced by competing materials than the concrete pipe sector. Classic concrete and reinforced concrete pipes, as well as concrete shafts, are increasingly being forced out, primarily due to an influx of new materials in this traditionally concrete-dominated market. Aspects such as the use of locally available resources have faded into the background, as have the sometimes questionable overall properties of flexible components, with regard to their physical limitations. Restructuring of the concrete pipe industry has continued apace in many countries, largely accompanied by the accumulation of production capacity; in many cases, market players with substandard product quality have also been forced to quit the market. However, this consolidation of markets has led more to price competition on a company level than to quality competition on a product level. All in all, then, conditions would tend not to support the growth of the industry, and seem to favor suppliers of competing products.