Industry Focus

Latest Updateon theEU’s
Fastener
Tradeby Gang Hao Chang, Vice Editor-in-Chief of Fastener World(Table data shown in descending order according to figures of 2020)｜Import｜From 2017 to 2020, the EU imported around EUR 4.5-5.8 billion worth of fasteners from the world per year. If calculated by volume,the yearly fastener import roughly landed at 1.5-1.9 million tons. The unit price per Kg was about EUR 3.

Top 20 Fastener Import Partners for the EU (Incl. UK) in 2017-2020 (by Euro)
Product(s): 7318
Partners

Years

Total non-EU2017

2018

2019

2020

5,219,684,443

5,705,327,956

5,667,901,496

4,417,636,823

China

920,115,184

1,203,637,682

1,309,979,402

1,140,659,006

Taiwan1,320,527,177

1,418,785,716

1,343,686,383

1,028,746,155

USA

802,330,632

746,228,648

797,751,311

487,182,311

Switzerland

485,183,597

464,056,476

421,370,384

363,000,880

Turkey260,031,233

302,429,331

296,199,006

251,388,345

Vietnam

224,788,138

270,278,019

239,828,207

195,983,044

India

250,779,928

278,726,784

284,069,336

191,719,708

Japan228,218,388

222,068,587

220,926,397

153,687,302

S. Korea

160,864,368

177,489,884

176,181,683

146,768,348

Liechtenstein

95,317,680

85,939,275

86,529,945

89,922,252

Thailand

109,370,292

125,429,022

101,855,810

70,336,474

Malaysia

88,128,507

96,013,273

87,371,382

65,362,079

Bosnia and Herzegovina

34,594,095

36,531,685

39,479,227

32,683,962

Indonesia

37,738,193

36,367,212

32,676,079

32,510,458

Norway30,496,543

37,609,334

40,246,641

29,720,992

Canada33,972,713

34,229,015

32,881,549

20,385,389

Serbia15,994,919

22,625,295

17,036,625

13,286,762

Philippines

21,558,437

27,874,791

19,828,250

13,220,318

Russia8,427,812

12,761,498

15,742,530

11,419,184

Brazil

17,000,815

18,494,238

13,523,993

11,113,802

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Industry Focus
During these four years, 2018 demonstrated the best result in fastener import with the import value reaching EUR 5.705 billion andthe import volume being 1.911 million tons. However, the import appeared a consecutive drop in 2019-2020. In 2020, the import value wasalready down to EUR 4.4 billion and the import volume slipped to around 1.52 million tons as well, a clear sign of market demand shrinkage.
To view from import values, the EU’s main fastener import partners were China, Taiwan, USA, Switzerland, Turkey, Vietnam, India,Japan, and S. Korea. The combined import from China and Taiwan almost represented nearly 50% of the EU’s total fastener import. The
imports from USA and Switzerland also represented around 10%, respectively.
To view from import volumes, the EU’s main fastener import partners were China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Turkey, India, Thailand, Malaysia,and S. Korea. The combined import from China and Taiwan almost represented around 67.5% of the EU’s total fastener import. Vietnam, atthe 3rd place, only represented 6.6%. The EU showed very high dependence upon fastener imports from China and Taiwan.

Top 20 Fastener Import Partners for the EU (Incl. UK) in 2017-2020 (by Ton)
Partners

2017

2018

2019

2020

Total non-EU

Years

1,725,371

1,911,158

1,831,023

1,523,211

China

548,746654,335

699,272

651,213

Taiwan524,818

546,729487,988378,180

Vietnam124,747

144,530

121,073

100,542

Turkey79,63992,70591,321

78,998

India

107,052

112,905

109,580

69,940Thailand

68,07975,15559,18943,500

Malaysia

48,74347,562

41,39832,422

S. Korea

38,16943,792

41,42731,184

Switzerland

32,721

32,58631,002

25,218

Japan

33,13631,30629,192

18,927

USA

35,01432,201

28,02014,807

Bosnia and Herzegovina

14,49814,331

15,713

12,773

Liechtenstein

13,085

12,294

12,048

12,632

Norway9,023

12,327

12,104

8,782

Indonesia

10,222

9,254

8,211

8,422Serbia

7,950

12,107

10,065

7,966

Ukraine

5,487

5,274

4,277

6,665

Belarus

4,114

5,821

3,594

4,568

Russia

2,382

3,757

6,472

4,119

Philippines

5,833

8,082

5,354

3,702

｜Export｜From 2017 to 2020, the EU exported around EUR 3.8-4.6 billion worth of fasteners to the world per year. If calculated by volume,
the EU exported 0.5-0.57 million tons of fasteners to the world. The EU’s fastener export volume was around 1/3 of its fastener import
volume, but its fastener export value was very close to its fastener import value, which clearly showed the fact that fasteners the EU
exported to the world were mostly high value-added products. The unit price per Kg was close to EUR 8.
During these four years, the EU’s fastener export to the world showed the best result in 2018-2019. Its export value reached the highest
point in 2019 at around EUR 4.616 billion and the export volume also reached the highest point in 2018 at 0.568 million tons. In 2020, its
export value dropped to the lowest level at EUR 3.888 billion and the export volume also dropped to around 0.494 million tons.
To view from export values, the EU’s main fastener export partners were China, USA, Switzerland, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Brazil,Norway, and India. The combined export to China, USA, and Switzerland represented nearly 50% of the EU’s total fastener export. Theexports to Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Brazil, Norway, and India also represented around 2.5-5.0%, respectively. What’s worth mentioning is,compared to fastener exports to the other main fastener export partners, the EU’s fastener export to China in 2020 was still on a rise. Toview from export volumes, the EU’s main fastener export partners were almost the same as those viewed from fastener export values. The
EU’s total export to China, USA, and Switzerland represented the lion’s share of around 43%. China was also the only one that showed anincrease in 2020 among the EU’s top 5 fastener export partners.

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Industry Focus
Top 20 Fastener Export Partners for the EU (Incl. UK) in 2017-2020 (by Euro)
PartnersYears2017

2018

2019

2020

4,247,031,753

4,481,999,683

4,616,451,798

3,888,110,553

China

882,446,226

895,332,219

820,271,204

859,608,759

USA

726,173,946

827,916,158

958,790,319

742,843,667

Switzerland

308,152,479

321,415,607

307,042,385

276,668,747

Russia197,604,639

212,220,126

217,823,967

202,738,936

Mexico201,743,697

225,688,871

237,542,196

192,583,424

Turkey239,501,577

231,394,968

220,399,740

191,252,235

Brazil166,889,282

178,752,656

177,305,792

146,113,163

Norway121,455,190

138,755,966

159,305,607

124,506,350

India

153,307,520

176,574,478

157,120,028

102,170,892

Total non-EU

Morocco74,183,931

75,263,890

92,948,958

78,499,486

Liechtenstein

76,306,754

68,276,508

65,203,869

63,211,337

S. Korea

56,102,825

57,104,863

61,795,870

59,782,127

South Africa

84,182,546

77,363,201

81,993,936

54,501,777

Australia

54,839,371

57,272,390

55,328,583

51,049,571

Japan

55,254,667

58,157,447

63,546,768

47,443,198

Canada71,032,894

68,690,834

77,211,260

47,142,169

Singapore

67,199,825

69,932,276

74,451,686

44,163,637

Ukraine22,650,793

30,185,743

38,726,800

41,270,824

UAE

52,365,326

48,340,892

56,515,569

37,821,739

Serbia34,153,601

34,354,969

33,177,165

33,995,715

Top 20 Fastener Export Partners for the EU (Incl. UK) in 2017-2020 (by Ton)

｜Recap｜To view the EU’s fastener trade data andthe analyses in previous paragraphs, one could
roughly realize that besides importing a great
deal of fasteners from Asia at comparatively
low unit prices, the EU (benefited by the vibrantfastener manufacturing, distribution, andsupply chains in many EU countries, such as
Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, etc.)
is also equipped with sufficient capacities andcapabilities to meet the global market demandfor high-end fasteners at high unit prices. The
unit price of the EU’s fastener export was about
2.6 times the unit price of its fastener import.
During 2017-2020, the EU’s fastener trade
data appeared fluctuations, but the fluctuations
were comparatively mild. However, consideringsome unfavorable factors still in place, suchas the shortages of labor and materials, hiking
transport and manufacturing costs, resurgenceof reported Covid-19 cases, and the slow vaccine
rollout, I expect the developing trend in 2021
may appear a comparatively flat downward
curve, but the whole situation may not become
so worse, as the global supply and demand
still remain and the slow recovery in manyindustries continues, as a result, the possibilityof a drastic slump is quite low.

Years

2017

2018

2019

2020

Total non-EU

550,946568,314549,717494,018

China

112,089

106,479

90,32096,395

USA

77,89485,60392,09079,614

Switzerland

42,06442,92338,902

36,593

Russia36,14737,26437,44034,982Turkey40,41737,37736,09729,942

Mexico27,71830,87732,043

27,574

Partners

Brazil

28,82831,26528,46722,482

Norway20,19623,42525,28021,294

India

23,44725,63919,656

13,423

Ukraine

4,790

7,305

9,472

11,792

Liechtenstein

12,548

12,587

12,034

11,406

Morocco10,596

9,527

9,991

9,792

South Africa

11,844

12,581

13,545

8,493

Serbia

6,751

6,343

6,109

6,278

Australia

5,461

5,779

5,008

4,775

UAE

5,916

4,663

4,745

4,667

S. Korea

3,454

3,438

3,269

4,344

Egypt

3,466

3,931

3,716

4,122

Thailand

5,955

6,033

5,021

3,554

Belarus

2,872

3,308

3,332

3,389

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