Industry Focus

Japan Fastener Trade
Statistics and Relation
with Taiwan(2019 - Oct. 2022)
by Dean Tseng, Fastener World

With the lifting of the lockdown and the end of the epidemic, we can see more and more clearly the trajectory of fastener trade figuresin many countries before and after the epidemic. Following our analysis of Taiwan’s past trajectory in the November Fastener World
Magazine, we will focus on Japan in this article. In the past three years of the epidemic, what changes have occurred in Japan’s fastener
import and export trends? As of the time of writing this article, the latest data from the Japanese Customs was released up to October
2022, so this article will analyze it from 2019 to the first ten months of 2022. We will regard 2019 as the pre-epidemic year, 2020 tothe first half of 2021 as the rampant period, and the second half of 2021 to 2022 as the market opening period. By the time this article
reaches a general understanding of the situation in Japan, it will narrow the scope to the fastener trade data between Taiwan and Japan.

Japan's Fastener Importfrom the WorldIn terms of import weight (Fig. 1), Japan
imported 348,000 tons of fasteners from theworld in 2019, 297,000 tons in 2020, 318,000
tons in 2021, and 277,000 tons in the firstten months of 2022. We can see that frombefore the outbreak of the epidemic to 2020,
the import weight dropped 17%. Although
it has increased 7% in 2021, there was no
momentum to keep driving the increase in thefirst ten months of 2022. It is estimated thatJapan's purchase of fasteners from overseas
may decline across the 12 months of 2022.
On the whole, Japan's purchase of overseas
fasteners has been decreasing in recent
years. On the contrary, the value (Fig. 2) offasteners purchased by Japan from the world
has shown an overall growth trend in recent
years. In 2019, it was 120.1 billion yens,which fell 23% when the epidemic broke out,rose 18.4% in 2021, and increased 9.8% in
the first ten months of 2022. The cost (value)of purchase increased, and the volume ofpurchase decreased. In addition to supply
chain challenges, sharp depreciation ofJapanese currency in 2022 was also afactor hindering Japanese procurement.

Figure 1. Japan's Global Import Weight of Fasteners from2019 to October 2022 (Unit: Metric Tons)

Figure 2. Japan's Global Import Value of Fasteners from2019 to October 2022 (Unit: Thousand Yens)

Next, let's take a closer look at the top 10
fastener import partners for Japan. As shownin Table 1, first of all, the top four importsources for Japan in recent years are China,
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Table 1. Japan's Top Ten Fastener Import Sources from 2019 to October 2022
Unit: weight in metric tons, value in thousand yens
Customs code: 61703 / Source: Customs Bureau of the Ministry of Finance of Japan

Ranking

2019
Source Weight

2020
Value

2021

Source Weight
China

Value

Jan.-Oct. 2022

Source Weight

Value

SourceWeight

Value

China

210,569

49,276,045

China

182,606 53,943,066

66,154 24,773,147 Taiwan

67,191

29,143,322

Taiwan60,60334,331,521

USA

1,181

11,706,991

USA

945

11,995,759

1

China

221,268

46,588,998

2

Taiwan74,66428,759,101 Taiwan

3

USA

1,328

18,214,622

USA

4

Korea

25,336

7,860,063

Korea

12,8394,685,725

Korea

15,407

6,024,996

Korea

11,4695,528,513

5

Thailand

5,457

3,459,067 Vietnam

11,8393,247,338 Vietnam

12,685

3,903,435 Vietnam

11,161

4,106,944

6

Vietnam

11,163

3,443,248 Thailand

4,645

2,956,298 Thailand

4,210

3,389,000 Thailand

4,017

3,458,689

7

Germany

1,349

2,781,108 Germany

1,032

2,419,395 Germany

1,148

2,839,362 Germany

986

3,343,215

8

Malaysia

3,657

1,671,085

166

1,264,435

UK

162

1,188,761

160

1,471,198

9

UK

217

1,084,930 Malaysia

2,533

1,046,231

Swiss

199

953,084 Malaysia

1,731

1,146,087

10

Switzerland

214

943,519 Switzerland

180

712,432 Malaysia

1,896

936,057 Switzerland

156

822,174

0Global348,661 120,112,826

194,048 38,055,825
933 13,400,879

UK

Global297,918 97,070,923

GlobalTaiwan, the United States, and South Korea respectively, and there
has been no change. Vietnam has replaced Thailand as the 5th largest
source from 2020 up to the first ten months of 2020. European countries,
including Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, ranked
seventh and after that.

UK

318,703 114,966,809

Global

277,807 126,256,158

Japan's second largest source of fastener imports, growing
from 28.7 billion yens to 29.1 billion yens, with 34.3 billion
yens in the first ten months of 2022. However, the thirdlargest source, the United States, fell from 18.2 billion
yens to 11.7 billion yens, which should be related to theappreciation of the U.S. dollar due to the U.S. interest rateincrease, affecting Japan's purchases from the United States.
South Korea, the fourth largest source, fell from 7.8 billion
yens to 6 billion yens.

China is Japan's largest source of fasteners both before and after thevirus outbreak, with imports growing from 46.5 billion yens to 49.2
billion yens from 2019 to 2021, and accumulating to 53.9 billion yens in
the first ten months of 2022. There is room for growth in 2023. Taiwan isTable 2. Japan's Import of Fasteners from Taiwan (2019 - October 2022)
Weight Unit: kg; Value Unit: USD; Sorted by 2021 values
Source: Bureau of International Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs

Items

2019
Weight2020
Value

Weight

2021
Value

WeightJan. – Oct. 2022
Value

WeightValue

731815: Other screws and bolts, with or
51,441,840 153,598,080 43,140,302 129,207,206 42,037,202 137,835,061 36,987,187 135,122,615
without nuts and washers included
731816:Nuts

13,102,518

53,166,143 10,091,411

41,159,788 11,691,095 54,935,170 10,433,929 57,800,004

731814:Self-tapping screws

2,339,456

7,902,828 5,037,524

16,017,976 7,422,535 26,768,455

6,708,169 26,552,455

731819:Other steel and iron screw
products

1,480,697

7,577,834

1,212,701

6,310,591 1,346,638

7,489,292

1,163,067

731812:Other screws for wood

1,945,243

6,418,862

1,784,819

5,682,076 1,760,684

6,090,058

1,672,314 6,553,484

731822:Other washers

1,424,016

6,245,976

1,146,319

5,166,049 1,099,313

5,634,514

803,908

4,894,430

731829:Other non-threaded articles ofiron and steel

559,477

2,817,163

480,264

2,708,018

474,8932,800,992

447,537

2,763,931

731823:Rivets

147,521

1,382,509

120,998

1,300,223

117,936

1,805,900

87,205

1,252,132

731824:Cross-tips and open-ended tips

232,520

1,588,784

168,575

1,238,529

204,059

1,687,586

183,696

1,558,978731813:Spiral hooks and spiral rings

18,392

222,761

36,028451,567

37,395471,326

20,301

274,172731821:Spring washers and otherlocking washers

25,944

141,695

22,273

105,104

81,108319,595

27,579144,054731811:Screws for vehicles

54,215210,270

42,397150,289

55,902

232,677

55,222

284,084

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Comparing Japan's imports of fasteners from China and Taiwan, it is found that in terms of import weight, the import weight from China
is about three times that from Taiwan, and the import value is about 1.5 times. In Taiwan’s perspective, the domestic steel prices in
Taiwan increased in recent years, affecting the price competitiveness of export sales. To Japan facing high cost pressure,
Chinese fasteners were more attractive than Taiwanese fasteners, which is alarming to the fastener industry in Taiwan whose
quality can meet the requirements of Japan.

Fastener Items Imported from Taiwan into Japan
Looking at the fastener imported from Taiwan into Japan (Table 2), "731815: Other screws and bolts" is the top item, but the import value
dropped from US$150 million to US$130 million between 2019 and 2021, and it seems there is not much room for increase for the whole2022. Nuts, on the other hand, increased from US$53.16 million to US$54.93 million, reaching US$57.8 million in the first ten months of2022, and it looks like the growth trend for 2022 is all set. Wood screws are also set to grow in 2022, from US$6.41 million to US$6.55
million. The same applies to automotive screws, which increased from US$210,000 to US$280,000. In particular, self-tapping screws are
expected to grow more dynamically, from US$7.9 million in 2019 to US$26.76 million in 2021, and are expected to surpass that again in
2022. Table 2 also shows that Japan's demand for Taiwan's construction fasteners, rivets, pins and "731822: Other washers" is much higher
than that for automotive screws.

Fasteners Exported fromJapan to the WorldIn terms of export weight (Fig. 3), Japan
exported 338,000 tons of fasteners to the worldin 2019, 279,000 tons in 2020 (down 21%),346,000 tons in 2021 (up 23%) and 269,000
tons in the first ten months of 2022 (down 22%),with a significant drop in exports for the whole2022. Overall, it seems that Japan's export has
been highly volatile in recent years. The same
fluctuation is also reflected in the value (Fig. 4)
of fasteners exported from Japan to the world,which was 305.1 billion yens in 2019, down
15.7% when the epidemic broke out, up 26.4%
in 2021, and down 13.7% in the first ten monthsof 2022, which is greatly affected by the world
status.
Let's take a look at the top ten fastenerexport partners for Japan. As shown in Table 3,
in recent years, Japan's top four export partners
were China, the United States, Thailand, andIndonesia, and there has been no change. India
is likely to replace Mexico as the 5th largest
export partner in 2022. Other major export
markets for Japan include Latin America(Brazil), Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Malaysia,
Philippines), and Taiwan. The UK was one ofJapan's top 10 export destinations in 2019 and2020.

Figure 3. Japan's Global Export Weight of Fasteners,
2019 - October 2022 (Unit: Metric Tons)

Figure 4. Japan's Global Export of Fasteners,
2019 - October 2022 (Unit: Thousands Yens)

China is Japan's largest fastener export
destination both before and after theoutbreak, with export growing from 73.5
billion yens to 85.1 billion yens from 2019
to 2021 and accumulating to 67.1 billion yens in the first ten months of 2022, with room for growth in 2023; the United States is Japan's
second largest fastener export destination, growing from 71.4 billion yens to 76.9 billion yens, but reaching only 64.7 billion yens in thefirst ten months of 2022. Thailand, at the third place, rose from 39.8 billion yens to 40.6 billion yens, due to the country's budding demandfor construction in the post-epidemic market. Indonesia, the fourth largest destination, fell from 21 billion yens to 18.8 billion yens, before
rebounding to 20.2 billion yens in the first ten months of 2022.
Comparing Japan's export of fasteners to China and Taiwan, the weight of export to China is about 17 times higher thanthat to Taiwan, and the export value is about 15 times higher. In addition, the aforementioned Japanese import from China issignificantly higher than from Taiwan, so it can be said that Japan is highly dependent on the Chinese fastener market.
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Table 3. Japan's Top 10 Fastener Export Destinations from 2019 to October 2022
Unit: Weight in Metric Tons, Value in Thousand Yens
Customs Code: 61509 / Source: Customs Bureau, Ministry of Finance, Japan

Ranking

2019
Destinations Weight

2020
Value

2021

Destinations Weight

Value

Jan.-Oct. 2022

Destinations Weight

Value

Destinations Weight

Value

1

China

80,80473,501,386

China

84,221

74,408,180

China

93,442

85,112,581

China

66,622

67,132,380

2USA

78,914

71,463,784

USA

66,27861,504,889

USA

81,73376,968,506

USA

58,72764,705,969

3Thailand

45,55439,876,989 Thailand

32,21029,203,131 Thailand

45,35340,602,271 Thailand

37,98635,987,064

4Indonesia

25,73821,023,412 Indonesia

13,283

10,971,757 Indonesia

22,833

18,864,526 Indonesia

22,50920,277,587

5

Mexico14,336

12,523,841 Mexico

12,056

10,613,230

Mexico14,22912,842,986

India

11,383

11,109,270

6

India

9,943

9,327,437

India

8,170

7,805,872

India

12,215

11,344,803 Mexico

9,591

9,870,776

7

UK

9,100

6,528,126

Brazil5,930

4,597,655

Brazil9,243

7,242,948

Brazil8,684

7,888,579

8

Brazil8,588

6,173,937 Taiwan

4,461

4,483,822 Vietnam

2,668

5,323,768 Vietnam

2,280

5,043,957

9

Malaysia

5,672

5,183,760

6,177

4,447,837

4,897

5,217,950 Malaysia

4,930

4,663,529

10

Philippines

3,526

5,067,891 Vietnam

2,216

4,345,195 Philippines

3,571

4,889,147 Taiwan

4,150

4,434,827

0Global338,616 305,163,698

UK

GlobalTaiwan279,577 257,102,234

Global346,517 324,979,462

Global269,069 280,447,008

Table 4. Japan’s Fastener Export to Taiwan (2019 - October 2022)
Unit of Weight: kg; Unit of Value: USD; Sorted by 2021 values
Source: Bureau of International Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs

Items

2019
Weight2020
Value

Weight

2021
Value

WeightJan. – Oct. 2022
Value

WeightValue

731815: Other screws and bolts, withor without nuts and washers
included

4,027,021 33,148,590 3,880,409 31,715,017 4,075,636 40,469,836 3,928,197 29,968,424

731816: Nuts

1,547,354 12,923,933 1,427,350 12,616,405 1,566,681 14,568,257 1,352,421 11,038,849

731822: Other washers

256,710

7,402,618

191,135 6,889,950

274,543 10,549,006

247,036 6,278,302

731824: Cross-tips and open-ended tips

176,387

5,615,379

172,330 5,230,553

187,250

6,578,495

142,318 5,166,224

731819: Other steel and iron threaded
products

44,997

862,477

37,597

1,110,368

32,657

1,508,145

35,096

999,553

731829: Other non-threaded articles ofiron and steel

24,139 3,604,288

14,741

1,031,166

16,751

1,257,433

37,638

828,688731821: Spring washers and otherlocking washers

21,036

987,499

38,198 1,049,821

27,818980,475

38,160753,741

731823: Rivets

58,360700,952

37,056

674,055

52,039832,179

49,813787,638

731814: Self-tapping screws

68,147534,112100,327

810,444

80,981

647,141

58,797456,994

731811: Screws for automobiles

22,914

329,340

23,460326,640

22,000408,151

19,972

308,303

731813: Spiral hooks and spiral rings

1,208

69,664598

42,733

1,110

75,849590

100,720

46

230

52

955

50

727

83

1,493

731812: Other screws for wood

Fasteners Exported from Japan to Taiwan
Looking at the fastener items exported from Japan to Taiwan (Table 4), "731815: Other screws and bolts" is the top item. The export valuerose from US$33.14 million to US$40.46 million between 2019 and 2021. There seems not to be much room for increase for the whole yearof 2022. The export value of nuts increased from US$12.92 million to US$14.56 million, and the value reached US$11.03 million in the firstten months of 2022. Table 2 also reveals that Taiwan's demand for Japanese washers, pins, nuts and screws other than those for
automobiles and construction was relatively high in recent years.

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