9/6/2011 5:42:00 PM
HEADLINES
Asian Fastener Exports Up Despite Natural Disasters
China’s steel, iron or copper standard fastener exports jumped 41.5% to $2.2 billion for the first six months of 2011, with the export volume rising 22.2% to 1.25 million tons and the average price gaining 15.8% to $1761/ton, ChinaFastener.Info reports.
Steel, iron or copper standard fastener exports increased 27.6% to $425 million in June, with export volume growing 12% to 238, 000 tons and the average export price swelling 13.9% to $1,788/ton.
“Export value for China’s steel, iron or copper standard fastener basically showed the same as that of the first half of 2010, which rose 40.5% while export volume increased 22.4% compared with a 45.4% gain in 2010,” according to ChinaFastener.Info. “Export price jumped around 15.7% in first six months of 2011 while it decreased 3.3% in the same period of 2010.
The U.S., Russia and Japan continue to be the main importers of fasteners from China. The export value to the U.S. rose 44.7% to $391 million, while exports to Russia jumped 82.9% to $158 million. Japan’s fastener consumption gained 23.4% to $146 million.
In terms of market share, the U.S. portion of China’s fastener exports remained stable, while Russia’s increased to 7.2% and Japan’s increased 7.6%.
“Export to the top importers in value reached $1.15 billion for the first half of year, taking up 52.3% of China’s total fastener export value.”
Japan Earthquake Takes Toll on Fastener Exports
Japan’s earthquake and tsunami in March cut into the country’s fastener exports for the first half of 2011, with volume declining 3.5% to 150,791 tons, ChinaFastener.Info reports. Japan’s fastener export value dropped 4.2% to 119.6 billion yen.
Bright spots in the overall export figures included screws and stainless steel nuts, which achieved the largest export volume increase at 13.1% and 12.83% respectively.
The largest decrease category was self-tapping screws, posting a decline of 13.65% in volume and 19% in value.
The largest export category was “other bolts (iron or steel)”, which slipped 4.6% to 86,334 tons and 4.66% to 51.7 billion yen.
Taiwan Fastener Exports To U.S. Down From Pre-Recession Level
The export value of fasteners exported from Taiwan in the first quarter of 2011 grew 17% to a record 337,000 tons, with the value gaining 22% to NT$26.5 billion, Fastener World reports. The average export unit price in Q1 was NT$ 78.4/Kg.
The U.S. economy continues to recover slowly.
“Although the import amount of fasteners imported to the US saw a growth of 21% in Q1 2011 as compared to the same period of 2010, this figure was a decline of 25% as compared to the same period of 2008,” according to Fastener World.
The amount of fasteners exported from Taiwan to the U.S. in Q1 grew 13% as compared to the same period of 2010, but remains 8% lower than exports during the opening quarter of 2008.
The average export unit price of fasteners exported from Taiwan to the U.S. was NT$ 71.3/Kg, which was lower than the average NT$ 72.4 price of 2010.
Problems of credit ratings and financial measures have slowed the EU’s economic recovery as well, though Taiwan has benefited from the EU’s tariffs on fasteners from China. ©2011 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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