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2024 TDA Instrument Industry Outlook Report Now Available

Each successive year since the coronavirus pandemic, it seems we wonder if this will be the year in which conditions return to some approximation of normal following the economic turmoil COVID-19 caused. Although each year so far, the answer has been no, it appears that each year has been marked by incremental shifts toward equilibrium. In 2023, supply chains, shipping costs, and, delivery times largely returned to their prepandemic statuses, and a global recession seems to have been averted. However, high inflation, while falling, continues to contribute to weakened consumer sentiment, and fiscal policy in some economies still reflects the detrimental effects of the pandemic.  

TDA’s 2023 Outlook Mid-Year Update Available

The major factors shaping economic conditions for 2023 are similar to those in the year prior with recovery—from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—on the distant horizon. Persistent inflation continues to reduce growth in the analytical instruments industry as customers have less cash available to spend.

IMF Cites Slight Improvement in July’s World Economic Outlook Update

Despite the May declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency and the resolution of many supply chain and shipping problems, global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has slowed, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its July 2023 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update: Near-Term Resilience, Persistent Challenges. The increases in central bank policy rates enacted to combat inflation have hindered economic activity, resulting in weak global growth.

Market Profile: PFAS Testing

Known as “forever chemicals,” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are some of the most pervasive pollutants in the environment. A class of synthetic organic chemicals first introduced into products in the 1940s and used widely for their exceptional repelling properties, they are linked by a hard-to-break carbon-fluorine bond. In the intervening decades, PFAS have seeped into waterways, soil, and people’s and animals’ bodies.

Market Profile: Carbon Capture

Demand for carbon capture, the trapping and storing of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by industrial processes, is expected to increase in the coming years as global climate agreements and individual countries’ climate goals come into effect. Broadly, there are three methods of carbon capture: post-combustion capture, in which CO2 is separated from exhaust; pre-combustion capture, which gasifies solid fuel and removes CO2, and oxy-fuel combustion, wherein fuel is burned in a mixture of pure oxygen and CO2 is captured from resulting exhaust gas. Once CO2 is captured, it is transported and stored, typically in geological formations deep underground, or is utilized in a number of emerging applications.

Connecting the “Lab of the Future” with Scitara

In a typical laboratory, most machines and tools are siloed, detached, and unable to communicate with each other. Other industries have adopted a class of software systems known as “integration platform as a service” (iPaaS) to link the many apps and technologies they use, such as MuleSoft, Zapier, or Boomi. But labs have been slow to adopt such tools.

IMF Predicts Signs of Fragile Improvement in April’s World Economic Outlook

After years of what the International Money Fund (IMF) calls “powerful blows” to the global economy, modest signs of improvement are expected into 2024. In its April 2023 World Economic Outlook (WEO): A Rocky Recovery, the IMF projects global growth will slope from 3.4% in 2022 to 2.8% in 2023, before bumping up to 3.0% in 2024. Global inflation has begun to recover (albeit more slowly than predicted in January’s WEO Update), and will drop to 7.0% in 2023 and 4.9% in 2024 after hitting 8.7% in 2022.

The Food Testing Market

The World Health Organization estimates nearly one in ten people becomes sick from food each year, and a total of 420,000 of those die from the illness. The novel coronavirus’ possible origin in a seafood market and its many variants have also drawn attention to how new and rapidly mutating microbes can wreak havoc on public health. In addition to protecting consumers’ health and confirming nutritional content throughout the production process, laboratory testing of food is required to ensure food authenticity. According to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), food fraud costs the global food industry as much as $40 billion each year.

The Environmental Testing Market

The unfolding crisis in East Palestine, Ohio, where a cargo train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in early February, is just the latest high-profile incident to evince the importance of environmental testing. The derailment and subsequent controlled burn of several train cars containing the carcinogenic chemical vinyl chloride, and the potential spill of other chemicals, prompted environmental and public health concerns in the surrounding community. Reports of thousands of dead fish in nearby waterways and residents experiencing headaches and rashes, among other incidents, emerged after the derailment.