The shrinking U.S. electric equipment market: What is eating away at U.S. manufacturers´ share of the world market? An alleged European-Japanese cartel may be compounding the slowdown in U.S. growth

An analysis is presented of the shrinking US heavy electric-power equipment industry´s share of world markets. The sectors most affected are those that make power generating equipment and power transformers with ratings higher than 10000 kilovolt-amperes. In the last several years, the combined markets were still more than $1 billion a year in the United States, according to the US Census Bureau. Also dramatically affected are manufacturers of circuit breakers, especially breakers rated above 242 kV-so called extra-high voltage (EHV) units. The reasons for the decline are thought to be slack demand in the United States, competition from subsidiaries of foreign firms, the strong US dollar, and lagging US technology. The author reports that many US companies have stopped manufacturing their own products in favor of assembling and marketing those of foreign competitors. Closed markets outside the US and the effects of foreign government-owned utility policy are reviewed. Impressive foreign products, and reduced long-term US product support and equipment development, are cited along with the effects of the dollar on international sales.