Manufacturing

• [New] Working alongside partners in industry, the UK aims to develop 5 gigawatts (GW) of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030, supporting up to 8,000 jobs.
• [New] The German economy could offset a large part of the massive decline in the gross domestic product recorded in the second quarter of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• [New] In the UK, almost a third of respondents cited AI and machine learning, followed by 5G, IoT and video conferencing at 16% each, as 2021's most important technologies and challenges.
• [New] Global robotic process automation (RPA) software revenue is projected to reach $1.89 billion in 2021, an increase of 19.5% from 2020, the RPA market is still expected to grow at double-digit rates through 2024.
• [New] If the world is to go down the 2-degree pathway, investment in new natural gas exploration and production could be slashed by 65%, from nearly US$2 trillion to US$ 700 billion, by 2040, because gas demand would peak earlier than previously thought.
• [New] Artificial intelligence, machine learning, 5G and Internet of Things would be the most important technologies in 2021.
• [New] African swine fever (ASF) remains the biggest change driver in global animal protein, and in the year ahead we expect to see pork production grow faster than any other species, largely because of the recovery from ASF in China and Vietnam.
• [New] In the coming decades, changing climatic conditions are expected to pose profound challenges to Uganda's coffee sector: without adaptive measures, only 1% of Uganda's current coffee producing land is expected to be able to continue production.
• [New] The global acrylic acid market is expected to reach USD $22.6 billion by 2022, with demand in superabsorbent polymer production as a key driving factor for market growth.
• [New] COVID-19 is forecast to continue weighing on the global ethanol market, with 2019 production levels not expected to return until at least 2022.
• [New] India's vaccine production capacities will be important for the interests of humanity, and Chinese president Xi Jinping said his country would actively consider providing its vaccines to the other BRICS countries.
• [New] Global medical robots market is expected to be growing at a healthy CAGR of 21.8% during the forecast period of 2019 to 2026.
• [New] The COVID-19 pandemic will remain a significant issue into 2021, particularly as the world turns its attention towards manufacturing and distributing vaccines to billions of people around the world.
• [New] Between 2020 and 2024 the European Commission will support the installation of at least 6 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolysers in the EU, and the production of up to 1 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen.
• [New] Trash picking robots in China is just more evidence of how automation and artificial intelligence will displace millions of jobs, not only in China but worldwide by the end of the decade.
• [New] The global fragrance market is expected to reach an estimated US$ 58.8 billion by 2024 with a compound annual growth rate of 5.6% over 2020-24 due to supportive market fundamentals, including a growing global middle class and increasing demand for beauty, health and hygiene products.
• [New] Oil production from U.S. shale plays is likely to hit a floor in 2021 with no further declines expected in a $40 to $ 45/bbl West Texas Intermediate (WTI) price environment.
• [New] As the UK's first refinery to convert waste oil into road fuel, the Humber refinery - which began production of renewable diesel in 2018-also has plans under way to increase low-carbon, renewable fuels production at the site another 2,000 b/d to 5,000 b/d by 2024.
• [New] Global gross domestic product will fall 4.4% in 2020, with Spain, Italy, France and the UK suffering declines of 10% or more.
• [New] Pork production is set to grow faster than other species in 2021, due to the recovery from African swine fever (ASF) in China and Vietnam.

Last updated: 29 November 2020