China boosts prospects for atomic spectroscopy.

Although the atomic spectroscopy market, for the most part, is not a high growth sector, it has continued to post moderate growth, and should experience a 5% gain in 2005, following growth of 3.6% and 4.8% in 2003 and 2004, respectively. While rebounding economies helped to provide much of these gains in 2004, the heavy investment in industry, particularly in metal producing in Asia, and especially China, will provide the primary impetus in 2005.

Inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (ICP/MS) will experience the strongest growth by far of any atomic spectroscopy technique in 2005, at nearly 9%. Some of this growth will be the result of the semiconductor industry, which continues to drive rebound in demand. However, the biggest gains for ICP/MS will be due to the environmental industry, where the continued tightening of regulations in various regions requires its utilization.

X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and elemental analysis sales will each grow between 6% and 7% in 2005. Growth in demand for both XRD and XRF is due in large part to the growth of the metals industry, especially in China, while significant demand for XRD also comes from the pharmaceutical industry. The elemental analysis market is being driven primarily by mercury analyzers for environmental analysis and total organic carbon (TOC) analyzers, which are used in a range of industries to monitor water for processes, as well as for environmental applications.

The majority of growth in arc-spark demand is directly tied to the metals industry, which is experiencing very strong growth in China and India. Both atomic absorption (AA) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy will grow minimally due in part to a shift in demand for new instruments towards ICP/MS. Much of the demand for the AA and ICP markets will be for aftermarket products and service due to the large installed base of both types of instruments.

Atomic Spectroscopy 2004-05

                             Market Share    Growth Rate

XRF                             20.5%           6.1%
AA                              18.9%           1.6%
CID                             15.7%           2.8%
Elemental Analyz                13.1%           6.8%
XRD                             12.7%           6.7%
ICP/MS                          10.2%           8.8%
Arc-Spark                        9.0%           3.9%
Total                           100.0%          5.0%

2004 Supplier Market Shares

Others                            55%
Bruker                             5%
Rigaku                             5%
Spectris                           7%
Thermo Electron                   12%
PerkinElmer                       15%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

2003-06 Total Global Atomic
Spectroscopy Market

2003               1922
2004               2014
2005               2114
2006               2220

Note: Table made from pie chart.