International. According to a recent ASHRAE Journal and AHR Expo survey sent to more than 1,000 HVAC/R manufacturers worldwide, there is growing optimism to improve the economic outlook for 2015. Based on the survey results, 87% of respondents said their business prospects were either "excellent" (26%) or "good" (61%) for the coming year. 13% of respondents considered the prospects to be "fair".
These results reflect a significant 8% above last year's survey that found that 79% of respondents expected the economy to be better in 2014 than 2013. It also represents a 17% increase in optimism over the previous year's survey, when 70% of respondents thought 2013 would be better than 2012.
According to this positive outlook for next year, 96% of HVAC/R manufacturers believe that in 2015 sales will continue to increase, 47% expect sales increases of between 5% and 10%. 29% of respondents forecast sales increases of more than 10%, and 20% expect increases of less than 5%. Only 3% of companies expect the results to be the same.
When asked which market segments would be the most promising in the coming year, "Hospitals/Health" ranked first in the "excellent" and "good" categories, followed closely by "Light Trading." "Heavy Trading", "Data Centers/Telecommunications", "Manufacturing/Industrial" and "Office Buildings" also ranked highly.
