Industry Focus 141

US Top 10 Trading
Partners of HandTools Import &Export(The First 3 Quarters of 2018)2018美國前三季手工具類前十大進出口國 by Nai-Wen Chang, Fastener World
Graph 1. Top 10 Destinations of Hand Tools Export for the U.S.
During 2012 and 2017

(USD)
80,000,000
70,000,000
60,000,000
50,000,000
40,000,000
30,000,000
20,000,000

Regardless of the types of hand tool, China, Taiwan and Germany
are the top import sources for the U.S. In terms of export, theneighboring Canada and Mexico are among the top 3 destinations ofexport for the U.S. The statistics below cover the first 3 quarters of2018 and the monetary figures are calculated in USD. The official
statistics for the whole 2018 was yet to be published as of the dateof our deadline. To give you the whole picture of annual trade
progression, we put up line graphs in a 2012-2017 timeframe andcouple them with descriptions of statistics for the first 3 quarters of2018.

10,000,000-2012

2013

2014

2015

CanadaUK

MexicoGermany

2016
Australia

Japan

China

Singapore

Peru

Chile

2017

Graph 2. Top 2 Sources of Hand Tools Import for the U.S.
During 2012 and 2017

(USD)
400,000,000
350,000,000
300,000,000250,000,000
200,000,000
150,000,000
100,000,000

50,000,000
-2012

2013

2014

2015

China20162017

TaiwanGraph 3. 3rd to 10th Top Sources of Hand Tools Import for the U.S.
During 2012 and 2017
(USD)
25,000,000
20,000,000

Hand Tool (HS Code 8204)
US total export value with the top 3 destinations were USD
196,719,093 over the first 3 quarters of 2018. Much like in 2017, thetop 3 destinations in 2018 were Canada (USD 52,164,831), UK (USD
13,400,675), and Mexico (USD 13,235,920). Japan came in fourth atUSD 11,197,853 and Australia in the south hemisphere came in fifthat USD 11,165,267. The sixth was Germany at USD 9,958,417. The
seventh was China at USD 7,594,687. The eighth was Singapore atUSD 6,181,472. The ninth was the Netherlands at USD 5,650,582.
The tenth was Brazil at USD 3,903,642. Unlike 2017, there was asmall change in the top 10 in 2018, We should note that Brazil andthe Netherlands were not in the chart in 2017 but made it in byreplacing Peru and Chile in the first 3 quarters of 2018. Refer toGraph 1 for the export values during 2012 and 2017.
In terms of import, the top 10 sources of hand tool import forthe U.S. were the same as in 2017 (Graph 2 and 3). The top 3 wereChina, Taiwan and Germany, in that order. China took up over 50%of the total import with an value of USD 235,500,608. Taiwan camein second at USD 150,222,727, taking up 33%. Germany at USD
16,664,569 exceeded India by taking up 4%. India came in fourth at
USD 14,203,339. Spain came in fifth at USD 6,857,226. Argentina
made it in the top 10 since 2015 and landed at USD 4,657,406 in 2018as the sixth largest source of import, squeezing UK out of the top 10.
Mexico came in seventh at USD 4,135,684. Japan came in eighth at
USD 4,123,333. Canada came in ninth at USD 3,208,989. Italy camein tenth at USD 2,841,508.

15,000,000

Screwdriver (HS Code 820540)

10,000,000
5,000,000
-2012

2014

2015

2016

India

2013

Germany

Spain

Argentina

MexicoJapanCanadaItaly

2017

The total export value of US screwdrivers for the first 3 quartersof 2018 dropped substantially from the previous two quarters. Theexport value in 2016 was USD 34,394,433. By 2017 it was downto USD 29,856,150. In the first 3 quarters of 2018 it was USD
21,732,362. The top 3 destinations of export were Canada at USD
7,158,371 taking up 33% of the total export, Mexico at USD 3,437,387

142 Industry Focus
Graph 4. Top 3 Destinations of Screwdriver Export for the U.S.
and Total Export Values During 2012 and 2017
(USD)
40,000,000
35,000,000
30,000,000
25,000,000
20,000,000
15,000,000
10,000,000
5,000,000
02012

2013

2014

Total export value

2015

Canada2016

Mexico2017

UK

Graph 5. 4th to 10th Top Destinations of Screwdriver Export forthe U.S. and Total Export Values During 2012 and 2017(USD)
4,000,000
3,500,000
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000

taking up 16%, and Australia at USD 935,214 taking up 4%. Costa
Rico new to the top 10 came in fourth with a total export value of
USD 889,067 in 2018. Chile at USD 846,412 was up from seventh
place in 2017 to fifth place in 2018. UK bounced between the first 5
places in the chart over the past 2 years and landed at 6th place (USD801,931) in 2018. Seventh place was Japan (USD 737,993) and eighth
place was Israel (USD 673,661). South Korea (USD 655,438) camein ninth which was lower than its ranking in 2017. Colombia (USD565,077) made it back to the chart again at tenth place after it wassqueezed out in 2016. Ecuador was tenth in 2017 but was squeezed
out of the top 10 in the first 3 quarters of 2018 and landed at twelfthplace.
The top 3 import sources of screwdrivers for the U.S. in the first 3quarters of 2018 remained to be China at USD 62,248,013 taking up
59% of the import total, Taiwan at USD 28,156,083 taking up 27%,and Germany at USD 6,199,275 taking up 6%. Fourth and fifth place
had been bouncing between Czech Republic and Japan since 2015.
In 2018 Czech Republic (USD 2,910,206) outpaced Japan (2,539,306)
by a small gap. Switzerland at USD 591,359 and UK at USD 591,359
came in sixth and seventh respectively. Spain came in eighth at USD
404,576, Canada came in ninth at USD 313,995 and France came intenth at USD 282,835. The top 10 had not changed since Mexico wassqueezed out. Refer to Graphs 6 and 7 for a comparison between theprevious years.

1,500,000

Screwdriver Bit(HS Code 82079030)

1,000,000
500,00002012

Australia

Israel

2013

2014

South Korea

2015
ChileJapan2016

2017

GermanyEcuador

Graph 6. Top 3 Sources of Screwdrivers Import for the U.S.
During 2012 and 2017

In terms of screwdriver bits, the U.S. exported a total worth of
USD 169,201,449 in the first 3 quarters of 2018, down a little fromGraph 8. Top 2 Destinations of Screwdriver Bits Export for theU.S. During 2012 and 2017

(USD)

(USD)
80,000,000

60,000,000

70,000,000

50,000,000

60,000,000

40,000,000

50,000,000
30,000,000

40,000,000
30,000,000

20,000,000

20,000,000
10,000,00010,000,000
-

2012

2013

2014
ChinaTaiwan

2015

2016

-2017

2012

2013

2014
MexicoGermany

Graph 7. 4th to 10th Top Sources of Screwdrivers Import for
the U.S. During 2012 and 2017
(USD)
3,000,000

2015

2016

2017

CanadaGraph 9. 3rd to 10th Destinations of Screwdriver Bits Export for
the U.S. During 2012 and 2017

(USD)
16,000,000
14,000,000

2,500,000

12,000,000
2,000,000

10,000,000

1,500,000

8,000,000
6,000,000

1,000,000

4,000,000
500,000

2,000,000
-2012

2013

2014

2015

Czech Republic

Japan

Switzerland

Canada2016
Spain2017
UKFrance-Japan2012UK2013
China

Germany

2014

2015

South Korea

2016
FranceItaly

2017
Australia

Industry Focus 143Graph 10. Top Source of Screwdriver Bits Import for theU.S. and Total Import Value During 2012 and 2017

Graph 11. 2nd to 10th Top Sources of Screwdriver Bits Importfor the U.S. During 2012 and 2017

(USD)

50,000,000(USD)

45,000,000

400,000,000

40,000,000

350,000,000

35,000,000

300,000,000

30,000,000

250,000,000

25,000,000

200,000,000

20,000,000

150,000,000

15,000,000
10,000,000

100,000,000

5,000,000

50,000,000--2012

2013

2014
Total import value

2015

2016
China

2017

2012
TaiwanHungary2013
GermanySwitzerland

20142015
JapanBrazil

2016
Canada2017
MexicoItaly

the previous two years. Refer to Graphs 8 and 9. The top 4 destinations of export for the U.S. have never changed since 2016 and they are
Mexico at USD 34,274,514 taking up 20% of the total export, Canada at USD 31,350,078 taking up 19%, Japan at USD 12,047,101 taking up 7%,and UK at USD 11,000,724 taking up 7%. Germany came in fifth at USD 10,074,004 taking up 6%, and China came in sixth at USD 6,757,496
taking up 4%. Australia entered the top 10 in 2017 and rose to seventh place (USD 4,887,088, taking up 3%) in 2018. France at USD 4,820,016
and Italy at USD 4,547,511 came in eighth and ninth respectively as they did in 2017. South Korea at USD 3,902,249 came in seventh in 2017
but fell to tenth place in 2018.
Refer to Graph 10 and 11 for US import of screwdriver bits during 2012 and 2017. The total import value began to grow slow in 2014 but
increased its growth margin in 2018. The total import value for the first 3 quarters of 2018 was USD 288,642,259. The top source of import
was China at USD 141,441,254, taking up 49%. Taiwan came in second in 2015 and remained so in 2018 at USD 36,871,014, taking up 13%.
Germany came in third at USD 33,782,066, taking up 12%. Japan started to decline in 2016 and came in fourth in 2018 at USD 12,748,920,almost outpaced by Canada at fifth place (USD 11,919,235). Switzerland began to decline in 2016 and came in sixth in 2018 at USD 5,712,830.
UK took a drastic dive during 2014 and 2015, began to bounce up in 2016, and came in seventh in 2018 at USD 4,718,396. Hungary (USD4,444,421), Brazil (USD 4,282,107) and Czech Republic (USD 4,094,447) came in eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.