As the world braced itself for the covid-19 pandemic, the lockdowns implemented in its response had serious consequences on world economy. Many businesses shut down, whereas many businesses rose to unprecedented heights. The demand for many non-essential goods and services saw a heavy drop, meanwhile the demand for many essential products, services and amenities expectedly went up.
Industries like the airlines, casino and gaming, leisure facilities, oil and gas drilling and the auto parts and equipment industries saw their demands drastically reduced, causing detrimental impacts on stock performance, and raising future viability concerns. At the same time, other industries saw their demand go up and stocks rise astronomically.
Following is the list of the five fastest growing industries:
- Respiratory ventilator manufacturing
Revenue growth (2019-2020) = 54.8%.
Products produced by the same have long been a staple of the global healthcare sector. As hospitals across the world faced a shortage of respiratory ventilators, causing industry operators to rapidly increase production. Manufacturers from outside the industry have adopted to divert their resources to be able to produce ventilators. The big names in the ventilator production market made strategic partnerships and expanded employments to keep up with the rising demands of the market.
Now this industry stands at a respectable market size of $4 billion.
- Military shipbuilding and submarines
Revenue growth (2019-2020) = 6.8%
Over the years the global shipbuilding and submarines industry has expanded, tempered by pressured defence spending in Europe and US. Western governments make up the largest market for the industry operators, which design, build repair, maintain, and overhaul naval vessels. The covid-19 outbreak is not likely to have a significant negative effect on the industry in 2020, and the industry revenue currently expected to increase 5.7% over the year. The recent geopolitical tensions between major nations have brought national security to the forefront of government policies. This boosted industry performance, despite abated growth during the beginning of the pandemic.
- Public relations agencies
Revenue growth (2019-2020) = 6.3%
The global public relations market is expected to grow from $93.2-95.9 billion in 2019 to $96.2-97 billion in 2020, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.4%. This low growth rate can be attributed to the lockdowns implemented in countries due to the covid-19 pandemic and steps taken to contain it. However, the market is expected to bounce back and grow at a CAGR of 7% from 2021 to 2023 and reach $117.8 billion.
- Music production and distribution
Revenue growth (2019-2020) = 6.2%
The global music production and distribution industry has had to adapt to the shift in music consumption in today’s audience created largely due to the shift created by the advent of digital music.
Revenue for this industry is expected to be negatively impacted by covid-19 pandemic, as industry activities in many countries have been set back or paused to slow the spread of the coronavirus due to their status as a non-essential industry. However, the current distribution of music genres regarding the industry’s downstream market segmentation is unlikely to change due to the covid-19 outbreak, thus indicating that the demand for the industry is to remain stable and unlikely to be affected in the long run.
- Pharmaceuticals & medicine manufacturing industry
Revenue growth (2019-2020) = 4.2%
Over the five years leading up to 2020, the ageing population in developed countries and growing middle class in emerging economies, have greatly benefited pharmaceutical manufacturers. Adding to that, the industry may experience increased downstream demand for pharmaceuticals and other medicines due to the ongoing covid-19 outbreak. Industry operators may be able to add to their bottom lines (income after all expenses have been deducted) in the long run. The anticipation for making the coronavirus vaccines and the testing and trials for those interests, add to the overall value of the global pharmaceuticals and medicine industry, moving forward.