CRU: China's demand for optical fiber and cable will account for 57% of global demand in 2016

John Johnson, president of CRU China, predicted that global demand for optical fiber and cable will reach 425 million core kilometers in 2016, of which China will account for 57%.

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At the 2017 Hengtong Group Media Interactive Exchange Conference held recently, Johnson delivered a keynote speech entitled "The Chinese Market Determines the Global Optical Fiber and Cable Industry Landscape", sharing CRU's views on the current status and future prospects of the global optical fiber and cable market, and particularly emphasized that "China accounts for the largest share of global optical fiber demand" and "as China's demand is higher than expected, global optical fiber and cable demand will hit a new high in 2016."

The report said that the global demand for optical fiber and cable has exceeded 400 million core kilometers, and China's strong demand is still the main driving force, which will continue to lead the global growth trend. The demand in North America and the Asia-Pacific market outside China has maintained an upward trend; the demand growth in Western Europe has increased significantly, and the Eastern European market is also gradually recovering.

At the same time, China's fiber optic deployment is developing at an extraordinary speed. Johnson compared it with the United States, saying that China's cumulative fiber optic installation volume is comparable to that of the United States, but in a very short time.

With the widespread coverage of 4G and fiber-to-the-home, will China's fiber optic cable growth reach saturation? CRU believes not. From 2010 to 2015, the average annual growth rate of global Internet traffic reached 29%, which means that fiber optic cable as infrastructure will still be the focus of investment.

The huge demand is one thing, but more importantly, China's cable manufacturing industry is also rising strongly. Chinese manufacturers are expanding their production capacity at an astonishing rate, and they are also maintaining an aggressive attitude in optical fiber preforms. Johnson pointed out that several large preforms will be put on the market in 2017, but before that, the shortage of preform supply will limit the growth of demand to a certain extent.