ShareA strong global compressor market
The almost 12% growth in the refrigeration compressor market over the 2020-2023 period reflects the vitality of the refrigeration sector. Centrifugal compressors and semi-hermetic reciprocating compressors experienced the strongest growth in sales over this period.
The significant growth in the refrigeration compressor market is one of the best indicators of the good health of the refrigeration sector, since most refrigeration systems use mechanical compression.
In this respect, the latest report published by JARN (1) on worldwide sales figures for the various types of compressors for the year 2023 is rich in information. To enable an analysis of sales trends over a significant period, the IIR has compared these figures with those provided by JARN in 2020, which were summarised here.
|
Types of compressors |
Sales in 2020 |
Sales in 2023 |
Market share in 2023 (%) |
Evolution 2020-2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Reciprocating compressors - Hermetic |
209 million |
230 million |
49.2 |
+10.0% |
| Reciprocating compressors - Semi-hermetic | 573,000 |
842,000 |
0.2 |
+46.9% |
|
Rotary compressors |
194.3 million |
219.8 million |
47.1 |
+13.1% |
|
Scroll compressors |
14.7 million |
16.3 million |
3.5 |
+10.5% |
|
Screw compresseurs |
122,000 |
135,200 |
0.03 |
+10.8% |
|
Centrifugal compressors |
17,200 |
29,500 |
0.01 |
+71.5% |
|
TOTAL |
418.7 million |
467.1 million |
100 |
+11.6% |
It appears that the global market for refrigeration compressors grew by nearly 12% over the period 2020-2023, corresponding to an average annual increase of 3.7%.
Reciprocating compressors and rotary compressors remain by far the most widely used, with market shares of over 49% and 47% respectively in 2023. However, although representing much lower sales volumes, the segments of semi-hermetic reciprocating compressors (+47% approximately) and centrifugal compressors (+72% approximately) experienced the strongest growth over the last three years.
For semi-hermetic reciprocating compressors, the strong increase in sales is explained by the growth of the heat pump market in the commercial and industrial sectors, particularly in Europe and China. In particular, heat pumps using CO2 have generated new demand for semi-hermetic compressors. These compressors are also widely used in several components of the cold chain: refrigerated storage and transport as well as freezing processes; in these applications, they represented 2/3 of sales of these compressors – in a capacity range from approximately 4 to 11 kW – in 2023.
The very significant growth in the centrifugal compressor market is linked to the increased demand for chillers in data centers, district cooling systems, shopping centres and large industrial installations such as petrochemicals. Their use is also growing in smaller capacity applications such as air conditioning in office buildings, cooling of electronic components and biopharmaceutical products. The energy efficiency of centrifugal chillers, especially at part-load, has been significantly improved by the use of multi-stage technology and inverters. More recently, oil-free magnetic bearing centrifugal compressors have found many new applications, particularly in the field of heat pumps and industrial process cooling, thanks to their high efficiency, wider operating range, low noise and low life-cycle cost.
(1) JARN, World Compressor Market – 2024 Update, March 25, 2024