Among the major players in this sphere European analytical and laboratory equipment market can easily be counted among the top leaders. In the United Kingdom the laboratory equipment and consumables industry has a long history. It got developed in tandem with the industrial revolution thus prominently reflecting United Kingdom's strong science base. The lab equipment market in UK was valued at $4.5 billion in the year 2005. By even a conservative estimation the market is set to reach around 6.3 billion us dollars by 2010. UK holds around 7% of the world market share of lab equipment.
Germany is another country that is doing quite well. Total sales of laboratory products in Germany was estimated to be worth around €5.3bn in the year 2006. In fact lab equipment export from Germany was more than 20% of the global laboratory equipment market. While no substantial data is available for Russian share of laboratory equipment market still insiders of the industry feels that over the next 5 years or so it is expected to grow by 5 to 7 %.
In Australia, there exists a mature market for laboratory scientific instruments. The market is highly export oriented, extensive and well developed. In fact the laboratory and scientific equipment industry industry is outperforming others in terms of growth, innovation and exports. The domestic market for scientific equipment and laboratory-related services in Australia is pegged at around $8 billion. It is projected that by 2015 Australia's laboratory and scientific equipment industry will go beyond $2.5 billion from the current level of $850 million per annum.
United States is a leader as far as laboratory analytical instrument is concerned. Countries in the East and South east Asia constitute its major market. For example Indonesia's clinical laboratory and diagnostics instruments market has shown a considerable growth. The imports of clinical laboratory and diagnostics equipment by Indonesia touched $25 million mark in 2004.
In South America the Chilean market for laboratory equipment was around US dollar 40 million in the year 2004. In Africa, figures available for the South African clinical laboratory market suggest that in 2005 the total size of the market was around $170 million. Historically speaking, plastic labware is a dominant player in the USA taking up a sizeable portion of the market which is more than 60% . Compared to this in Europe it is the glass labware that enjoys the formidable status with the market being approximately 70% glass. This is due to the comparatively lower glass prices in Europe coupled with substantially less marketing of plastic products.
In Asia, China stands tall as the second largest clinical laboratory market. The Chinese market is one of the world’s fastest growing and has the potential to develop into a huge market. Though China’s $1.5 billion clinical laboratory market is just 4% of the total global market, but over the next five years, China’s clinical laboratory instruments market is expected to grow at around 20% pa . This would far exceed the predicted figures for global clinical laboratory market.