MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

The world’s T100 arms producing companies skipped recession in 2009

US government spending on military goods and services is a key factor in arms sales increase

Despite the continuing global economic recession in 2009, the total arms sales of the SIPRI Top 100 of the world’s largest arms-producing companies increased by 14.8 billion USD from 2008 to reach 401 billion USD, a real increase of 8%, according to new data on international arms production released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

This confirms the sustained trend of SIPRI Top 100 arms sales which experienced a 59.6% increase in real terms since 2002.

Arms sales of the Top 10 arms-producing companies approached 228 billion USD, which is 56.9% of the SIPRI Top 100 total arms sales in 2009.

“US government spending on military goods and services is a key factor in arms sales increases for US arms-producing and military services companies and for Western European companies with a foothold in the US arms and military services market”, states SIPRI arms industry expert Dr Susan Jackson.

Of the SIPRI Top 100 arms-producing companies, 78 are based in the United States and Western Europe. These companies generated 368 billion USD in total arms sales, which is 91.7% of the total arms sales of the SIPRI Top 100 arms producers in 2009.

The following describes the breakdown of the SIPRI Top 100 in the USA and Western Europe:

• 45 of the SIPRI Top 100 are based in the USA. These companies generated just under 247 billion USD in total arms sales, which is 61.5 per cent of the SIPRI Top 100 arms sales.

• 33 of the SIPRI Top 100 are based in nine Western European countries (Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK). These companies generated 120 billion USD in total arms sales, which is 30 per cent of the SIPRI Top 100 arms sales.

• 26 of the top Western European arms producers are based primarily in four countries: France, Germany, Italy, and the UK.

• Ten of the SIPRI Top 100 are based in Asia (3 in India, 4 in Japan, 1 in Singapore, 2 in South Korea), excluding China, and 5 in the Middle East (3 in Israel, 1 in Kuwait, 1 in Turkey). The SIPRI Top 100 companies in these two regions generated 24 billion USD in combined arms sales, which is 6% of the SIPRI Top 100 arms sales in 2009.
 

• None of the companies in the SIPRI Top 100 in 2009 are based in Latin America or Africa.

The SIPRI Arms Industry Database was created in 1989 and contains financial and employment data on arms-producing companies in the OECD and developing countries (except China).