FIN SURVEY

For the fifth straight year, the level of capital investment in the fastener industry continued to drop during 2009. The FIN Capital Expenditure Index fell 28% to 2.08 for the year, down from 2.9 in 2008.

Capital expenditures have not risen since 2004, when the index reached 3.4.

More than 61% of survey respondents reported declines in capital spending last year, while just under 10% increased their budget.

Nearly 69% of manufacturers reported capital spending declines, sending their index to 2 from 2.9 the previous year. Just under 10% boosted investment in 2009.

Among distributors, 51.3% reported budget cuts last year, while only 10.2% increased investment. The distributor investment index fell to 2.3 from 3.1 in 2008.

For 2010, 53.1% of manufacturers see capital spending remaining stable, while 32.2% plan bigger investments and about 15% intend to trim their budget. The index for manufacturers is predicted to swell to 3.1 this year.

Nearly 60% of distributors say they’ll hold the line on capital expenditures in 2010, with 24.3% planning moderate increases and another 11% forecasting budget cuts, growing the distributor capital spending index to 2.8. ©2010 GlobalFastenerNews.com