292

Industry Focus

An Analysis ofTaiwan’s Fastener Trade in H1 2017
Continuous Growth in Export to USA/Germany/
Netherlands/Japan and Extended Reach to Newly
Emerging Markets
by Gang Hao Chang, Fastener WorldTaiwanese fastener industry has been confronted by slightly increasing challenges since
the EU announced the demise of its antidumping & countervailing measures against
certain iron & steel and stainless steel fasteners originating in China in 2016 and 2017
respectively, which then forced many Taiwanese fastener suppliers, who only traded withcertain markets before, to face up to the existence of new or potential competitors and start
thinking how they should extend their reach to different markets (e.g. extending reach to
the “direct-users” market in various industries, OEM/ODM, low volume & high variety
production, specialty products, make-to-order, focus more on marketing approaches, R&Dof new materials for fastening technology and application, etc.) in order to face possible
challenges in the future.
According to the statistics for Taiwan’s fastener trade in H1 2017, it reveals that
Taiwanese fastener companies have in recent years gradually extended their reach to many
countries that show substantial fastener demand caused by domestic industrial investment
projects, in addition to existing clients they have been collaborating with for years. Some ofthese countries have already become the top 20 trade partners of Taiwan, showing the factthat Taiwanese fastener companies could not only maintain relations with existing clientsfrom Europe/USA/Japan, but could also reinforce collaboration with those in other newly
emerging countries.
The article will expound upon the development trend of Taiwanese fastener industrybased on the import/export statistics released by TCA for the first half (H1) of 2017.

1a. Export Weight (KG)
2016/01-2016/06 2017/01-2017/06 Ranking

Percentage(%)

Change(%)

ChangeGlobal709,942,627

736,772,587

---

100

3.779

26,829,960

USA

261,292,422

278,915,748

137.8566.745

17,623,326

GermanyThe
Netherlands
Japan

71,938,813

72,883,295

2

9.892

1.313

944,482

43,183,151

45,045,215

3

6.114

4.312

1,862,064

31,219,313

33,432,971

44.5387.091

2,213,658

UK

33,276,085

31,029,963

5

4.212

-6.750-2,246,122

Canada21,832,326

24,234,928

6

3.289

11.0052,402,602

Poland17,253,673

18,558,716

7

2.519

7.564

1,305,043

Italy

19,638,051

18,525,515

8

2.514

-5.665-1,112,536

Sweden15,604,616

16,630,140

9

2.257

6.572

1,025,524

Mexico12,853,586

14,342,763

10

1.947

11.586

1,489,177

France13,874,325

14,134,720

11

1.918

1.877

260,395

Spain

13,092,638

13,287,170

12

1.803

1.486

194,532

China

10,390,247

12,326,923

13

1.673

18.6391,936,676

Thailand

10,727,635

10,536,061

14

1.430

-1.786-191,574

Russia9,623,465

10,532,921

15

1.430

9.450

909,456

Vietnam

10,397,815

10,293,259

16

1.397

-1.006-104,556

Belgium

9,180,035

9,397,519

17

1.275

2.369

217,484

Australia

9,797,873

9,090,952

18

1.234

-7.215-706,921

India

6,038,325

6,273,143

19

0.851

3.889

234,818

S. Korea

4,213,945

5,170,286

20

0.702

22.695956,341

Data source: Taiwan Customs Administration (TCA)In H1 2017, Taiwan exported around 740,000
tons of fasteners to the world and imported
around 8,374 tons of fasteners from the world.
If calculated by USD, Taiwan exported around
US$ 1.934 billion worth of fasteners to theworld and imported around US$ 67 million
worth of fasteners from the world. Thereappears a significant difference between theexport and the import. Compared to the datain 2016, Taiwan exported more fasteners to theworld in H1 2017 (either calculated by value
or weight); however, its import value or weightwas distinctly on the decline.

ExportThe tables (1a . and 1b.) show the top
20 fastener export destinations of Taiwan.
Either in the table for export weight or in
the table for export value, the top 5 fastenerexport trade partners of Taiwan were: USA,Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and UK(These five countries represented more than
60% of Taiwan’s total fastener export). Exceptthat the export to UK calculated by weight
showed a slight drop, the exports to other top
4 countries all showed significant growthcompared to the same period of 2016.
We could observe from the top 20 list that
Taiwan also exported some large proportions offasteners to Mexico, China, Thailand, Russia,Vietnam and India, where the investment
activities have currently become vibrant.
The authorities of these countries are active
in developing their own automotive, railway
or infrastructure industries (e.g. China’s“One Belt One Road” Initiative, increasing
investments from foreign carmakers in Mexicoor the planned high speed rail constructionof Thailand), and these industries could help
generate substantial fastener demand in theend. It would also be lucky for Taiwan as
the fastener categories demanded by theseindustries have also been the major strengths
and main focus of Taiwanese fastener industry
in recent years. Due to these reasons, many
Taiwanese companies have started to extend
their reach to these new markets and many
foreign buyers are also willing to place theirorders to Taiwan.
Compared to the same period of 2016,
the weight and value of fasteners Taiwan
exported to Mexico, China, Russia or India
both showed increase, except for Thailand
and Vietnam showing a downward trend.
T he d r op i n exp or t s to T h a i la nd a nd
Vietnam might be somehow related to the294

Industry Focus{ The weight and valueof fasteners Taiwan
exported to Mexico,
China, Russia or India
both showed increase. }political instability or stricter environmental
protection policies in the region. However,it’ll take some time to explore the real cause.
Amongst the top 20, USA showed thehighest increase in export weight comparedto the data in 2016, while UK showed themost significant drop. If calculated by value,
the export to USA still showed the highest
increase compared to the data in 2016,while the exports to Australia and Italy bothshowed a drop.

Import
The tables (2a. and 2b.) show the top 20
fastener import origins of Taiwan in H1
2017. If calculated by import weight, the top
5 fastener import origins of Taiwan in H12017 were: Japan, China, Vietnam, S. Koreaand Germany (These 5 countries represented
more than 70% of Taiwan’s total fastener
import). If calculated by import value, thetop 5 fastener import origins of Taiwan were:Japan, USA, Germany, China and S. Korea(These 5 countries also represented morethan 70% of Taiwan’s total fastener import).
Compared to the data in 2016, the weights
and values of fasteners Taiwan imported fromJapan , China and Vietnam all showed a drop;
however, the weights and values of fasteners
Taiwan imported from S. Korea and Germany
both showed growth. As for the importfrom USA, it showed growth in weight, butshowed a decline in value. Compared to thesame period of 2016, the weight and value offasteners Taiwan imported from the wholeworld were both on the decline.
In terms of import weight, the importfrom China showed the most significant dropand S. Korea showed the most significantincrease. If calculated by import value,
USA showed the most significant drop andS. Korea still showed the most significant
increase. This may be a message that Taiwan
reinforced its fastener purchase from S.
Korea in H1 2017.

1b. Export Value (USD)
Percentage

Change(%)(%)---1008.850

157,249,996

2016/01-2016/06

2017/01-2017/06

RankingGlobal

1,776,927,067

1,934,177,063

ChangeUSA

657,017,494

722,247,478

137.3419.928

65,229,984

Germany

169,624,173

178,502,255

2

9.229

5.234

8,878,082

The
Netherlands

103,029,610

110,933,447

3

5.735

7.671

7,903,837

Japan

89,162,734

99,951,144

4

5.168

12.10010,788,410

UK

81,939,083

83,963,332

5

4.341

2.470

2,024,249

China

54,002,374

67,968,517

6

3.514

25.862

13,966,143

Canada54,342,706

61,876,460

7

3.199

13.8637,533,754

Sweden42,057,355

46,675,869

8

2.413

10.981

4,618,514

Italy

42,999,306

42,933,891

9

2.220

-0.152-65,415

Mexico34,138,022

40,901,504

10

2.11519.812

6,763,482

France34,281,830

37,352,520

11

1.931

8.957

3,070,690

Thailand

30,236,418

32,488,448

12

1.680

7.448

2,252,030

Poland29,120,184

32,192,056

13

1.664

10.5493,071,872

Australia

32,138,775

30,563,136

14

1.580

-4.903-1,575,639

Spain

26,890,173

28,604,274

15

1.479

6.374

1,714,101

Belgium

22,685,104

24,539,735

16

1.269

8.176

1,854,631

Vietnam

20,612,681

23,562,417

17

1.218

14.3102,949,736

Russia16,745,348

18,441,145

18

0.953

10.127

1,695,797

India

14,591,429

16,822,893

19

0.870

15.2932,231,464

S. Korea

10,679,895

14,714,662

20

0.761

37.7794,034,767

Percentage

Change(%)(%)

2a. Import Weight（(KG)）
2016/01-2016/06

2017/01-2017/06

RankingChangeGlobal9,103,285

8,374,460

---

100

-8.006-728,825Japan

3,108,624

2,937,956

1

35.082-5.490-170,668

China

2,197,355

1,636,2432

19.538-25.536-561,112

Vietnam

1,468,480

1,233,073

3

14.724-16.031-235,407

S. Korea

94,789230,967

52.758143.664

136,178

Germany

193,241

220,683

6

2.635

14.201

27,442Thailand

224,796

208,7737

2.493-7.128-16,023

India

167,403198,7818

2.374

18.744

31,378

Malaysia

78,680181,4669

2.167

130.638

102,786

Philippines

219,110

168,14210

2.008-23.261-50,968

USA

147,273

164,63411

1.966

11.78817,361The
Netherlands

64,45155,60612

0.664-13.724-8,845

Italy

62,27754,75113

0.654-12.085-7,526

UK

43,57653,017140.633

21.666

9,441

Sweden62,32851,36115

0.613-17.596-10,967

Spain

29,77027,576160.329-7.370-2,194UAE

205

24,960170.298

12,075.610

24,755

Switzerland

9,467

24,173180.289

155.340

14,706

Turkey11,784

24,145190.288

104.896

12,361Indonesia

11,616

16,44820

0.196

41.5984,832

Conclusion

Czech Rep.

5,341

16,151

21

0.193

5.280

810

With the upcoming yearend of 2017, theoptimistic expectations of several industry
leaders towa rd 2018 a nd t he busi ness
opportunities Fastener Fair Stuttgart andInternational Fastener Expo held this year may bring to exhibitors, fasteners Taiwan exportedto Europe/USA/Japan with great fastener demand are expected to maintain strong growth
and the export to other newly emerging countries in Latin America and Southeast Asia is also
expected to demonstrate better performance.

Industry Focus
Looking forward, Taiwanese fastenercompanies will also face challenges
below:
1. Appreciation of NTD- Euro, Japanese Yenand many other currencies all demonstrated
significant depreciation. NTD, on the contrary, hasappreciated a lot, which may influence the orderintakes and profit margins of many companies.
2. The new labor law in Taiwan- This new law
is reported to have caused a nearly 10% increasein the labor cost of many companies in Taiwan. In
addition, more day-offs for employees have also
resulted in the lack of labor force, which makes
many companies extend their lead time.
3. Hiking cost due to environmental protection
policies- Some fastener companies pointed out thatthe cost for being compliant with all environmental
protection policies set for the fastener supply chain
has increased a lot and the electroplating and heat
treating cost in Taiwan has been very close to thatin Europe, USA and Japan. The delay in productdelivery could be a serious problem.
4. Insufficient labor force- Due to more day-offs
for employees, fastener companies cannot help but
introduce more automated machines and facilities
to handle the issue of delayed product delivery.

295

2b. Import Value（(USD)）
2016/01-2016/06 2017/01-2017/06 Ranking

Percentage

Change(%)(%)

ChangeGlobal

68,051,355

67,480,604

---

100

-0.839-570,751

Japan

31,037,268

30,814,517

145.664-0.718-222,751

USA

11,731,565

10,701,862

215.859-8.777 -1,029,703

Germany3,969,516

4,575,842

3

6.781

15.275606,326China

4,269,402

3,971,658

4

5.886

-6.974-297,744

S. Korea

1,623,130

2,901,952

5

4.300

78.787 1,278,822

Vietnam

1,755,756

1,450,062

7

2.149

-17.411

Switzerland

564,149

970,1428

1.438

71.966405,993UK

1,511,908

925,1389

1.371-38.810-586,770

India

847,289

896,802

10

1.329

5.844

49,513

Italy
The
Netherlands
Sweden971,438

830,35911

1.231-14.523-141,079

951,603790,78312

1.172-16.900-160,820

862,026

705,35813

1.045-18.174-156,668

Singapore

477,529

660,407140.979

38.297

182,878-305,694

France473,336

632,48815

0.937

33.623

159,152

Thailand

787,899

619,069

16

0.917-21.428-168,830

Philippines

784,424

607,876170.901-22.507-176,548

Czech Rep.

502,382

485,512180.719-3.358-16,870

Spain

270,047

329,54219

0.488

22.03159,495

Denmark

369,552

314,39120

0.466-14.926-55,161

Malaysia

234,418

290,161210.430

23.77955,743

Surely, challenges mentioned above will become some of the important issues
Taiwanese fastener industry must make efforts to deal with in 2018.