Global Bearings

14th Edition

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This study analyzes the global bearing industry. Bearing products include:

• unmounted ball bearings
• unmounted roller bearings
  • tapered
  • spherical
  • needle
  • cylindrical
• unmounted plain bearings
  • journal
  • spherical
  • thrust and other plain bearings
• mounted and combined ball/roller bearings (e.g., flange, hanger, pillow block, take-up)
• separately sold bearing parts (including balls, rollers, cages, cups, rings, housing closures, seals, shields, spacers)

Excluded from the scope of this study are:

• adaptor and withdrawal sleeves
• flexure, fluid, and magnetic bearings
• lock nuts and washers
• lubricators
• retaining plates

Whenever possible, efforts were made to prevent bearing sales from being counted more than once in the numbers presented here, although it is difficult to do because of the structure of the bearing industry. For example, cages manufactured by one company and balls made by another firm might be sold to a third enterprise, which uses these and other components fabricated internally to produce unmounted ball bearings. These bearings might then be sold to a fourth company, which uses them and housing purchased from a fifth firm to assemble mounted ball bearing units, which are then sold to end users. Each of the business transactions by these five enterprises is reported as a bearing product sale. As a result, final sales to bearing users are somewhat different in dollar terms than total bearing company product sales.

In addition, bearing demand is analyzed by market:

• machinery, including:
  • agricultural equipment
  • construction machinery
  • material handling equipment
  • food and beverage processing machinery
  • forestry equipment
  • mining machinery
  • oil and gas equipment
  • industrial equipment
  • machine tools
  • packaging equipment
  • pumps
  • utility equipment
• motor vehicles (e.g., automobiles; light, medium, and heavy trucks; recreational vehicles; mini-buses and shuttles; all-terrain vehicles; motor coaches and transit buses; vans)
  • original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
  • aftermarket (MRO)
• aerospace (e.g., airplanes, drones, helicopters, rockets, satellites, space vehicles)
• motorcycles, including internal combustion engine and electric moped, motorcycles, and scooters
• other markets, including:
  • appliances
  • bicycles
  • boats, ships, and other marine equipment
  • electronics and electrical equipment
  • instruments
  • medical products
  • military hardware
  • railway equipment
  • sports equipment
  • wind turbines

Historical data (2010, 2015, 2020) and forecasts for 2025 and 2030 are provided for shipments, demand, and net exports of bearings in current US dollars at the manufacturers’ level. Year-by-year historical sales are provided in US dollars and local currency (when applicable) for the major countries discussed in the report.