The challenges for the sector are similar to the ones that we've just been talking about. In the past five years or so we have lost a number of exporting companies. Those who are still in the game find themselves running out of spare capacity and are at that trigger point where they need to either invest to expand that capacity and employ more people or ask their customers to wait a little longer for delivery. It's a balance point. Right now we are seeing more of those decisions: that it's now time to invest. It's a process that is gathering momentum. That's a very positive development. It's been long in coming.
Now, the challenges that remain are that none of us are truly certain about the outlook for the world economy, which is your main customer, and in particular the U.S. economy. We're living just after the first quarter where the U.S. economy appears to have wobbled or faltered, and some people think it has slowed down. We think it has got its momentum and has been interrupted by things like bad weather and a port strike.
But as a business person, you're basically waiting for the phone to ring. That sort of trigger takes time and is happening company to company. We're confident that all those fundamentals are very strong, so they will assert themselves.