Industry Focus

Statistics of Fastener Trade Between

Taiwan and Europe(2019~October 2022)

Taiwan and Europe have long been close partners in fastener trading, and there are many fastener manufacturers in Taiwan focusing on
the European market. With the upcoming Fastener Fair Global in March receiving strong interest from fastener manufacturers in Taiwan, thefirst quarter of 2023 is a critical time for the Taiwanese fastener industry to expand its market share in Europe. This article focuses on thefastener trade data between Taiwan and Europe in the past four years, as well as the import and export trends of major fastener trade items, toprovide the industry with a reference for assessing market development.

Fasteners Export from Taiwan to Europe

Taiwan's fastener export partners in Europe are shown in Table 1.
Based on the export value in 2021, the top five partners were Germany, theNetherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Italy. The top ten export
partners of Taiwan to Europe in that year were mostly in Western Europe,
while the rest were in Central, Northern and Southern Europe. There were
no Eastern European countries in the top ten rankings.
Taiwan's exports to Germany grew from US$390 million to US$450
million from 2019 to 2021, and accumulated to US$430 million in the firstten months of 2022, and were expected to approach US$500 million for
the whole 2022. The Netherlands grew from US$220 million to US$290

Fig 1. Taiwan's Fastener Export Weight to Europe
in 2019-October 2022
600,000,000

Weight (kg)

500,000,000

534,509,315

493,637,982

471,240,444

421,498,270

400,000,000
300,000,000
200,000,000
100,000,000
0

2019

2020

2021

Jan. - Oct. 2022

Fig 2. Taiwan's Fastener Export Value to Europe in
2019-October 2022
2,000,000,000

Value (USD)

In terms of export weight (Fig. 1), Taiwan exported 493,000 tons offasteners to Europe in 2019, dropping to 421,000 tons in 2020, rebounding
to 534,000 tons in 2021, and 471,000 tons in the first ten months of 2022.
The export weight for the whole 2022 is expected to be higher than 2021.
Overall, Taiwan's fastener export to Europe benefits from Europe's
anti-dumping measures against China, and the export volume should
continue to increase with the pandemic subsiding, but due to thecurrent low demand in Europe and the U.S., there is no guaranteeof greatly exceeding the export growth of 26% in 2021. On the other
hand, Taiwan's export value (Fig. 2) of fasteners to Europe has been
growing in recent years, from US$1.39 billion in 2019, down 13% at
the time of the outbreak, to a surge of nearly 40% in 2021, and reaching
US$1.65 billion in the first ten months of 2022. In other words, Taiwan's
import and export of fasteners with Europe are expected to continue
to increase in the future.

1,500,000,000

1,399,087,241

1,687,598,242

1,650,836,2412021

Jan. - Oct. 2022

1,208,104,714

1,000,000,000
500,000,000
0
2019

2020

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Unit: Weight in kg, Value in USD
Customs Code: 7318
Sorted by Export Value in 2021
Source: Taiwan Bureau of International Trade, Ministry of
Economic Affairs

Table 1: Taiwan's Top 10 Fastener Export Destinations in Europe,
2019 - October 2022

Ranking

2019
Destinations

Weight38 Countries in
Europe493,637,982

1

Germany2

Netherlands

0

2020
Value

2021

WeightValue

1,399,087,241

421,498,270

132,505,809

392,118,297

80,348,283

227,785,981

Jan. - Oct. 2022

WeightValue

1,208,104,714

534,509,315

116,623,332

340,097,242

67,241,601

195,142,285

WeightValue

1,687,598,242

471,240,444

1,650,836,241

140,334,458

454,931,212

125,956,248

438,882,920

92,325,806

291,941,389

80,340,353

285,747,662

3

UK

55,620,928

171,259,001

41,692,178

136,837,417

60,596,995

208,903,511

43,971,538

178,903,018

4

Sweden28,912,202

94,555,904

24,839,100

85,303,928

32,330,710

121,742,008

27,877,803

114,933,842

5

Italy

32,429,910

82,026,949

27,368,054

70,888,895

35,787,498

103,873,841

37,366,066

114,883,552

6

Spain

27,015,928

64,535,795

23,066,684

55,463,942

31,967,659

83,072,214

26,824,442

78,553,611

7France27,639,807

80,661,599

23,178,904

68,227,341

26,338,768

82,677,008

22,717,824

82,398,460

8Poland31,645,985

67,825,360

27,418,561

58,766,598

33,003,477

81,787,622

27,394,594

78,990,163

9Belgium

17,378,900

51,612,649

13,300,763

40,061,696

15,354,809

52,867,737

9,978,524

38,937,055

10Denmark

9,683,418

30,142,035

9,851,625

29,015,355

11,127,340

35,326,825

9,020,155

36,224,876

Unit: Weight in kg, Value in USD
Sorted by Export Value in 2021
Source: Bureau of International Trade, Ministry of
Economic Affairs, Taiwan

Table 2: Fasteners Exports from Taiwan to Europe,
2019 - October 2022
2019

Customs
Code

Item

2020

2021

Jan. - Oct. 2022

WeightValue

WeightValue

WeightValue

WeightValue

731815

Other screws and bolts, with orwithout nuts and washers

269,991,855

741,363,912

212,483,005

600,471,234

260,797,814

827,798,135

243,530,135

850,390,813

731816

Nuts

102,904,851

304,160,379

79,974,072

241,129,663

104,786,522

336,884,655

76,309,450

275,997,404

731814Self-tapping screws

66,275,874

175,930,024

76,100,991

192,535,399

101,474,747

286,463,900

90,255,541

299,403,972

731812Other wood screws

54,897,528

134,855,449

54,143,052

136,903,864

64,250,934

177,301,334

55,254,810

168,482,577

731829Other non-threaded steel products

4,473,593

22,505,386

4,706,442

22,566,211

6,974,841

30,049,942

5,132,109

25,167,743

731819Other threaded steel products

2,727,286

16,327,808

2,206,192

13,831,304

2,799,809

18,586,059

2,353,561

16,367,148

731822Other washers

3,088,088

15,182,673

2,499,640

12,805,749

2,606,671

16,955,631

1,880,246

15,355,758

731824

Cross taps and open taps

1,610,740

6,734,488

1,287,155

5,629,458

2,335,632

11,007,866

1,743,842

9,907,700

731823

Rivets1,871,161

7,820,461

1,621,102

5,960,168

2,233,715

9,201,737

1,597,084

7,474,825

731811

Automotive screws

329,446

1,165,971

294,806

977,694

522,451

1,920,308

152,257

922,716731821

Spring washers and other locking
washers

80,324873,387

83,687

816,953

124,437

1,551,432

102,2101,305,334

731813

Spiral eyes and spiral rings

84,063611,004

68,371

421,579

90,904

641,326

60,787

625,694

million, reaching US$ 2.8 million in the first ten months of 2022 and was expected to surpass the level of 2021 in 2022. UK grew from
US$170 million to US$200 million, reaching US$170 million in the first ten months of 2022, and was expected to maintain or surpass US$200
million for the whole 2022. Sweden grew from US$94.55 million to US$120 million, reaching US$110 million in the first ten months of 2022
and could approach US$130 million for the whole 2022. Italy was up from US$82.02 million to US$100 million and reached US$110 million in
the first ten months of 2022, with a chance to approach US$130 million for the whole 2022. Among the top five partners, Taiwan's exports toGermany increased the most, and the Fastener Fair Global is expected to push this increase in the first half of 2023.
Among the fastener items exported from Taiwan to Europe (Table 2), "731815: Other screws and bolts" is the top item, with the export
value rising from US$740 million to US$820 million between 2019 and 2021, and US$850 million in the first ten months of 2022, andexpected to approach US$900 million for the whole 2022. Nuts increased from US$300 million to US$330 million, reaching US$270 million
in the first ten months of 2022, and are expected to remain flat or increase slightly for the whole 2022. It is worth noting that self-tapping
screws and wood screws for the construction industry have grown significantly, which shows that the demand for such productsin Europe is still increasing, and it is a good opportunity for Taiwan manufacturers to grasp by attending local exhibitions in
Europe.

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Industry Focus

Fastener Import from Europe to Taiwan
In terms of import weight (Fig. 3), Taiwan imported 1,536 tons offasteners from Europe in 2019, roughly flat in 2020, 1,805 tons in 2021,
and 1,344 tons in the first ten months of 2022. It can be seen that frombefore the outbreak of the pandemic to 2020, there was almost no increaseor decrease in import weight. Despite a large increase of 17.6% in 2021,
the uptrend in the first ten months of 2022 was not obvious. It is estimatedthat Taiwan's fasteners purchase from Europe may decline throughout
2022. Overall, Taiwan's fastener purchases from Europe increased
significantly in 2021 when the pandemic was raging, and return topre-epidemic normal levels in 2022 with the epidemic subsiding.
On the contrary, Taiwan's import value (Fig. 1) of fasteners from
Europe has been growing in recent years, from US$32.33 million in
2019, down 10.9% at the time of the outbreak, up 32.5% in 2021, reaching
US$33.96 million in the first ten months of 2022, and by calculation,
it is likely to reach US$40.75 million in 2022, an increase of 19.9%. In
other words, due to the shortage of materials and goods during the
pandemic, Taiwan's purchase volume (weight) and cost (value) from
Europe both increased, and when the pandemic started to subside,
the purchase volume returned to normal, and the growth rate ofpurchase cost slowed down but may still show an upward trend.

Fig 3. Taiwan's Fastener Import Weight from Europe in
2019-2022 October
2,000,000
1,800,000

weight (kg)1,600,000

1,805,536
1,539,987

1,536,098

1,344,280

1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000

200,000
0
2019

2020

2021

Jan. - Oct. 2022

Value (USD)

Fig 4. Taiwan's Fastener Import Value from Europe in
2019-2022 October

Next, let's take a closer look at Taiwan's fastener import partners in
Europe. As shown in Table 3, the top five partners in terms of import value
in 2021 were Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, and UK.
Most of the top ten sources for Taiwan in that year were from Western
Europe, while the rest were from Northern and Southern Europe. There
were no Eastern European countries in the top ten rankings.

45,000,000
40,000,000
35,000,000
30,000,000
25,000,000
20,000,000
15,000,000
10,000,000
5,000,000
038,616,754
33,964,217

32,333,875

29,140,685

2019

2020

2021

Jan. - Oct. 2022

Taiwan's import value from Germany grew from US$11.85 million
to US$14.57 million from 2019 to 2021, and accumulated to US$11.95
million in the first ten months of 2022, and is likely to approach US$14 million throughout 2022. The Netherlands grew from US$ 3.39
million to US$5.2 million, and accumulated to US$ 4.67 million in the first 10 months of 2022. Switzerland grew from US$2.07 million to
US$2.93 million, and grew 18% to US$3.47 million in the first ten months of 2022, and is expected to approach US$4.15 million throughout
2022. Sweden fell from US$2.85 million to US$2.78 million, accumulated to US$ 2.75 million in the first ten months of 2022, and is likely torebound throughout 2022. UK rose from US$1.58 million to US$2.62 million, reaching US$1.57 million in the first ten months of 2022 and islikely to drop throughout 2022. Among the top five partners, Taiwan's purchases from Switzerland increased the most.

Unit: Weight in kg, Value in USD
Customs Code: 7318
Sorted by Export Value in 2021
Source: Taiwan Bureau of International Trade, Ministry of
Economic Affairs

Table 3: Taiwan's Top 10 Fastener Import Sources in Europe,
2019-October 2022
2019

2020

2021

Jan. - Oct. 2022

Ranking

Sources0

38 Countries in
Europe1,536,098

32,333,875

1,539,987

29,140,685

1,805,536

38,616,754

1,344,280

33,964,217

1

Germany

399,763

11,857,743

413,559

10,222,029

588,859

14,574,275

434,147

11,955,732

WeightValue

WeightValue

WeightValue

WeightValue

2

Netherlands

238,793

3,392,145

160,162

4,055,315

125,777

5,205,313

95,921

4,673,041

3

Switzerland

55,7052,073,390

50,6172,185,959

87,4152,935,944

81,9083,472,295

4

Sweden149,694

2,857,695

133,815

2,033,265

172,474

2,789,023

188,816

2,758,679

5

UK

37,2001,582,266

65,721

2,003,508

86,6382,621,759

40,433

1,573,691

6

Italy

88,236

1,311,704

118,618

1,941,058

135,072

2,323,698

91,391

2,009,762

7

Denmark

15,945494,816

17,313

430,692

53,2671,225,221

59,409

1,112,494

8

Spain

42,605634,851

77,535

971,581

98,481

1,205,858

58,256

797,511

9

Turkey312,557

2,595,774

379,358

1,601,030

272,399

1,136,143

79,649640,817

10

France17,3482,020,057

17,084

1,109,607

21,6801,130,897

20,588845,579

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Industry Focus
Unit: weight in kg, Value in USD
Sorted by 2021 value data
Source: Bureau of International Trade, Ministry of
Economic Affairs, Taiwan

Table 4: Fasteners Imported from Europe to Taiwan,
2019 - October 2022
2019

Customs
Code731815

Item
Other screws and bolts, with orwithout nuts and washers

Weight636,0442020
Value
14,679,282

Weight540,319

2021
Value
12,028,758

Weight770,293Jan. - Oct. 2022
Value
16,512,565

Weight603,590

Value
13,697,259

731816

Nuts

192,7364,556,130

175,879

3,916,454

153,385

3,965,301

148,875

3,394,721

731819Other threaded steel products

102,998

3,119,973

146,965

2,745,326

158,367

3,788,906

130,819

3,879,877

731821

Spring washers and other locking
washers

28,5081,278,693

52,3482,011,774

100,584

3,037,880

42,023

2,213,823

731824

Cross-tip and open-tip

23,044

1,183,446

50,831

1,929,844

56,494

2,849,698

41,2102,989,394

731822Other washers

57,016

1,574,424

52,215

1,668,305

64,4832,559,905

64,2892,057,672

731829Other non-threaded steel products

27,672

1,387,106

29,631

1,597,943

43,121

2,113,997

36,2232,541,744

731811Car Screws

121,549

1,326,097

116,138

1,168,532

150,394

1,716,050

146,073

1,712,295

731814Self-tapping screws

5,169

122,730

4,758

159,532

17,419456,181

36,829369,993731823

Rivets

16,916354,704

13,863298,733

16,712382,989

13,758395,002731813

Spiral hooks and spiral rings

5,678

128,611

3,915

84,301

4,439

82,3783,355

66,403731812Other wood screws

6,221

43,3897,786

48,372

177

22,486399

10,292

Fasteners Imported from Europe to Taiwan
Looking at Taiwan's fastener import from Europe (Table 4), "731815: Other screws and bolts" was the top item, with import value growing
from US$14.67 million to US$16.51 million between 2019 and 2021. It seems there was little room for growth for the whole 2022, but the value
still expected to remain around US$16 million. Nuts dropped from US$4.55 million to US$3.96 million, and reached US$3.39 million U.S.
dollars in the first ten months of 2022, and could return to US$4 million throughout 2022. Automotive screws increased from US$1.32 million
to US$1.71 million in 2021, with definite growth throughout the year. In particular, self-tapping screws had a greater growth momentum, up
from US$7.9 million in 2019 to US$26.76 million in 2021, and was expected to grow further in 2022.
by Dean Tseng, Fastener World

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