144 Industry Focus

Taiwan’s Top 10 Trading Partners ofHand Tools Import & Export(The First 10 Months of 2018)

台灣手工具類2018年前十個月十大進出口國by Nai-Wen Chang, Fastener World
Editor’s note: The official statistics of Taiwan’s hand
tool trades for the whole 2018 were yet to be published asof the date of our deadline. To give you the whole pictureof annual trade progression, we put up line graphs in a
2012-2017 timeframe and couple them with descriptions ofstatistics for the first 10 months of 2018.

Hand Tools (HS Code 8204)
As shown in Graph 1 and 2, there was little change in Taiwan’s hand tool export ranking in the past few years. The top export destination
for Taiwan’s hand tools was the U.S with the export value for the first 10 months of 2018 at USD160,569,924, taking up 30.5% of the totalexport. The export to the U.S. was rolling up since 2016 and overall grew 8.93% from 2017. Following the U.S., the export of hand tools toChina grew a whopping 26.752% to a pretty good USD 52,141,384 taking up 9% of the total export in 2017. Export to Germany at 3rd placealso grew since 2016 and landed at USD 34,468,538
in 2018 taking up 6.548% of the total export. Francefollowed at 4th place and was very close to Germany
Graph 1. Top Destination for Taiwan Hand Tool Epxortwith a value at USD32,673,236. The Netherlands atand Total Export Values During 2012 and 2017(USD)
5th place grew 18.053% from 2017 and landed at USD
700,000,000
22,186,276. Japan coming in at 6th had a sluggish
growth since 2015, landing at USD 21,338,011 with a
600,000,000
minor growth of 1.377% over 2017. Australia came in7thwith a pretty growth of 20.139% landing at USD
500,000,000
17,210,003. UK at 8th place did not have much growth
400,000,000
since 2015 and landed at USD 14,637,095 in 2018with a growth of 4.469%. Sweden at 9th place had a
300,000,000
minor growth of 2.664% over 2017, landing at USD
14,025,566. Russia at 10th place was the only country
200,000,000
in decline but had pretty good growth from 2016 to100,000,000
2017, landing at USD 12,388,750 in 2018 with a 5.161%
decline.
2012

2013

2014

2015

Total export value

2016

2017

U.S.

Graph 2. 2nd to 10th Top Destinations for Taiwan Hand Tool Epxort
and Total Export Values During 2012 and 2017
(USD)
60,000,000
50,000,000
40,000,000
30,000,000
20,000,000
10,000,000
China2012
Germany

2013
France2014
JapanThe Netherlands

2015
Australia

2016
UK

2017
SwedenRussia

In terms of import, Taiwan’s total import value ofhand tools in the first 10 months of 2018 was USD
22,832,626, up by a smaller margin of 6.502% over2017. The top source of import for Taiwan was Chinawith an import value of USD 12,717,442, taking up
55.699% of the total import. Import from Vietnam at
2nd place started to grow since 2016, and grew 15.387%
in 2018 to a total value of USD 3,513,180. Japan at 3rdplace took a slight dive in 2017 and then grew 12.199%
to a total value of USD 2,785,355. Significant growth
was seen for undefined countries as well reaching a
total of USD 1,138,124 in 2018. India at 5th place also
had a pretty good growth since 2016, reaching a totalof USD 800,050 in 2018 with a growth margin of
12.799%. The U.S. plunged 10.883% for the first timesince 2015 and was ranked 6th with a total of USD
606,070. Germany at 7th place grew 49.801% in 2018 toa total of USD 394,797. Turkey at 8th place plummeted

Industry Focus 145
in 2017 and then grew 12.136% to a total of USD 358,073.
Netherlands at 9th place slipped down a little by 3.678% in2018 to a total of USD 141,090. Mexico at 10th place wason the ranking for the first time since 2015 with a pretty
good growth margin and a total of USD 65,092. Refer toGraph 3 and 4 for the progression from 2012 to 2017.

Graph 3. Top 3 Sources for Taiwan Hand Tool Import
and Total Import Values During 2012 and 2017
(USD)
20,000,000
18,000,000
16,000,000
14,000,000

Screwdriver (HS Code 820540)

12,000,000
10,000,000
8,000,000
6,000,000
4,000,000
2,000,000
-2012

2013

2014

China

2015

Vietnam

2016

2017

Japan

Graph 4. 4th to 10th Top Sources for Taiwan Hand Tool Import
and Total Import Values During 2012 and 2017
(USD)
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
-

2012
India

2013
U.S.

2014
Turkey2015
Undeﬁned countries

2016

2017

Germany

UK

Graph 5. Top 2 Destinations for Taiwan Screwdriver Export
and Total Export Values During 2012 and 2017
(USD)
70,000,000
60,000,000
50,000,000
40,000,000
30,000,000
20,000,000
10,000,000
-2012

2013

2014

2015

U.S.

RussiaTotal Export Value2016

2017

Graph 6. 3rd to 10th Top Destinations for Taiwan Screwdriver Export
and Total Export Values During 2012 and 2017
(USD)
4,000,000
3,500,000
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000-China2012
UK

2013
Japan

2014
Italy

Australia

2015
France2016

2017

Germany

SwedenJudging from Graphs 5 and 6, Taiwan’s export ofscrewdrivers started to grow since 2014. The total exportvalue was USD 56,157,466 in the first 10 months of 2018,
up by a small margin of 5.518% from the same period of
2017. The top destination of export for Taiwan was the U.S.
with a growth margin of 19.781% over 2017 and export
value of USD 22,377,364 taking up 39.848% of the totalexport. Export to China as the 2nd largest destination
totaled USD 2,843,131, up 16.374% from 2017. Russia at
3rd place totaled USD 2,151,792, dropping 22.271% from2017. Japan at 4th place totaled USD 2,049,602 in 2018with a decline of 9.995%. UK at 5th place totaled USD
1,938,204 in 2018, declining 17.733%. Australia at 6thplace was pretty much the same level with UK and totaled
USD 1,937,460, remaining the level with the total in 2017.
Italy at 7th place totaled USD 1,787,296 dropping 16.777%
from 2017. Germany at 8th place totaled USD 1,761,314,
up 22.288%. The Netherlands had a good growth with a
total of USD 1,631,953, up 523.625%. Sweden at 10th place
totaled USD 1,607,899 in 2018, up 13.805% from 2017.
Taiwan imported USD 3,535,924 worth of screwdrivers
in the first 10 months of 2018, up 38.222% from 2017.
The top source of import in 2018 was China with animport value of USD 2,287,964, up 47.744% and taking
up 64.706% of the total import. Japan at 2nd place was at
USD 516,225 which took up 14.599% of the total import,
but down 0.959% from 2017. Germany at 3rd place had agood growth of 50.476% and reached USD 248,081. Czech
Republic had a good one at USD 143,674 up a drastic
161.454%. The U.S. at 5th place totaled USD 100,544, up
48.426%. Switzerland at 6th place totaled USD 95,823 in2018, Undefined countries at 7th place totaled USD 54,417,down 13.184%. UK at 8th place totaled USD 35,747, down
42.304%. Hong Kong at 9th place totaled USD 14,154,down 42.304% from 2017. France totaled USD 12,468 in
2018, up 66.329%. Refer to Graph 7 and 8 for the yearlyprogression during 2012 and 2017.

Screwdriver Bit(HS Code 82079030)
In the first 10 months of 2018, Taiwan exported USD
76,759,530 worth of interchangeable tools, which is roughly
the same level in 2017. The top destination of export wasthe U.S. with an export value of USD 20,453,122, taking
up 26.646% of the total export. The second was Chinaat USD 9,250,448 taking up 12.051% of the total, up
20.839%. The third was Germany at USD 8,531,235 taking
up 11.114%. The fourth was Canada at USD 3,894,882 witha minor decline of 5.959%. The fifth was Vietnam at USD
3,339,692. The sixth was Sweden at USD 3,044,638, down
12.808%. The seventh was Thailand at USD 1,978,995 in
2018, down 12.416% from 2017. The eighth was Japan at

146 Industry FocusGraph 7. Top 3 Sources for Taiwan Screwdriver Import
and Total Import Values During 2012 and 2017

Graph 10. 4th to 10th Top Destinations for Taiwan Screwdriver Bit Export
and Total Export Values During 2012 and 2017

(USD)

(USD)

4,000,000

7,000,000

3,500,000

6,000,000

3,000,000

5,000,000

2,500,000

4,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

1,000,000

500,000--2012

2013

2014

Total import value

2015
China2016

Japan20122017
CanadaGermany

2013

Sweden2014

Vietnam2015

The Netherlands

2016Japan2017

ThailandUK

Graph 11. Top 3 Sources for Taiwan Screwdriver Bit Import
and Total Import Values During 2012 and 2017

Graph 8. 4th to 10th Top Sources for Taiwan Screwdriver Import
and Total Import Values During 2012 and 2017

(USD)
30,000,000(USD)
160,000
140,000

25,000,000

120,000

20,000,000

100,000
80,00015,000,000

60,00040,00010,000,000

20,000
-

2012

2013

Czech Republic

Switzerland

2014
U.S.

2015

Undeﬁned countries

2016
UK

2017

Hong Kong

Belgium

5,000,000-2012

2013

2014

Total import valueJapan

2016
China

2017

VietnamGraph 12. 4th to 10th Top Sources for Taiwan Screwdriver Bit Import
and Total Import Values During 2012 and 2017

Graph 9. Top 3 Destinations for Taiwan Screwdriver Bit Export
and Total Export Values During 2012 and 2017

(USD)

2015

(USD)
4,000,000

25,000,000

3,500,000
20,000,000

3,000,000
2,500,000

15,000,000

2,000,000
10,000,000

1,500,000
1,000,000

5,000,000

500,000
-2012

2013

2014
U.S.

2015
Germany

2016
China

2017

-Germany

2012
U.S.

2013
Switzerland

2014

2015

2016

UK

Malaysia

South Korea

2017
FranceUSD 1,927,942% in 2018, down 24.559%. The ninth was Australia at USD 1,862,231 with a minor growth of 3.508%. The tenth was Slovenia atUSD 1,861,645, up 29.035% which is relatively larger in the top 10. Refer to Graph 9 and 10 for the yearly progression during 2012 and 2017.
Refer to Graph 11 and 12 for the import trend. The total import value for the first 10 months of 2018 was USD 17,648,172. The first of thetop 10 source of import was Japan with an import value of USD 4,060,213, taking up 23.006% of the total, but down 25.834% from last year.
The second was China at USD 3,533,586 taking up 20.022% of the total with a minor decline of 5.649% from 2017. Germany was the thirdat USD 2,710,731, up a minor 7.607%. The fourth was the U.S. with a growth of 11.614% to USD 2,652,356 which is not much different fromGermany. The fifth was Vietnam at USD 2,100,838, down 31.991% from 2017. The sixth was UK at USD 574,966, down slightly by 1.388%.
The seventh was Switzerland at USD 392,940 with the largest decline of 55.149% in the top 10. The eighth was undefined countries at USD
314,478, up 77.988%. The ninth was Canada at USD 250,778 with the largest increase of 115.055% in the top 10. The tenth was South Korea atUSD 219,690, down 38.279% from 2017.