Asia Fastener Imports & Exports Grow

Jason Sandefur

Editor”s Note: The following column is part of a news column exchange between FIN and Fastener World.
The fastener industry in Asia continues to see steady growth, both in exports and imports.
Since 2001, the fastener industry has grown 30% to its current annual value of 700 billion yen (US$6.46 billion).
Fastener exports from Japan jumped 12.1% to 137,822 tons during the first six months of 2007. This follows a 6.7% increase in exports to 253,702 during 2006.
Japan also saw demand rise significantly for fastener imports. The country imported 112,741 tons of fasteners during the first half of 2007, which represents a 25.3% increase. The value of the six-month import total jumped 55% to 45.3 billion yen (US$418.5 million).
Fastener imports to Japan during 2006 grew 7.7% to 195,918 tons, while the value grew 25% to 67.08 billion yen (US$619.5 million).
But rising stainless steel and other material costs could dampen fastener industry growth in Japan, warned Kitai Masatsugu of the Fasteners Institute of Japan.
“These increasing costs are very hard to be transferred into product process,” he stated. “Under the situation of high price of petroleum, tools and other supporting material, it”s really a tough time for lots of fastener companies.”
In Taiwan, fastener exports dipped 2.8% to 813,000 tons during the first six months of 2007, as more Taiwan fastener companies outsource to lower-labor countries.
“As more fastener manufacturers take orders in Taiwan and manufacture overseas, the export volume of mainland China has grown rapidly in recent years to be triple that of Taiwan,” according to Chang Tuo-Hou, vice chairman of the Taiwan Industrial Fastener Institute.
However, a recent switch to more value-added products helped the six-month export value improve to US$1.9 billion.
Over the last decade, Taiwan fastener exports have grown 150% to 1.26 million tons, while the value nearly doubled to US$2.52 billion.
China produced 4.6 million tons of fasteners during 2006, an 18% increase over the previous year. Fastener exports climbed 37% to 2.07 million tons, with the value rising 32% to US$2.4 billion during 2006.
Conversely, China imported 159,500 tons of fasteners last year, an 18% increase over 2005. The import value climbed 15.2% to US$1.47 billion.
Korea fastener exports grew slowly to US$128.1 million during the first half of 2007, with US$37.2 million worth of fasteners shipped to the U.S. The per-ton value of fastener exports from Korea has risen 8% to US$3,207 during the last 12 months. Between 2003 and 2006, the per-ton export value to the U.S. increased 64% to US$2,288, and currently sits at about US$2,408 per ton.
Fastener imports are also growing in Korea. The country imported 54,792 tons of fastener products during the first six months of 2007 at a value of US$175.7 million. Korea imported a total of 66,145 tons of fasteners during 2006. \ �2007 FastenerNews.com