Taylor: China to Dominate Fastener Exporting

John Wolz

By 2010 China will become the leading fastener supplier, Jim Taylor predicted to the Western Association of Fastener Distributors.
�It may be sometime sooner,� Taylor of Scottsdale, AZ-based IMS Fastener Solutions, said.\
Taylor recalled the 1970s when Rockford, IL, was the dominant fastener supply center for North America. During the 1980s Osaka, Japan, became the dominant location, and the island of Taiwan took over by the 1990s.
There are 6,800 registered fastener companies in China, including 145 owned by Taiwan companies. They are building state-of-the-art factories in China, while sales and operations remain in Taiwan. �You are getting fasteners from China even if you buy from Taiwan,� Taylor said.
Taiwan has 800 registered fastener companies, but about 25 produce 85% of the products.
The growth of fastener manufacturing in China dates back to a government decision in the early 1990s to redefine Communism to allow free enterprise and profit.
The U.S. and Europe each use about US$9 billion in fasteners per year, followed by Japan at $7 billion, combined other nations $10 billion, China $1 billion and Taiwan $0.1 billion.
The U.S. imports about US$5 billion in fasteners, with Taiwan supplying 34%. China has grown to 7% of the U.S. import total.
�The Chinese go to the marketplace with a different concept from North American fastener manufacturers. Here you offer an A to Z full line and one-stop shopping. China is looking at the most efficiency. One product produced over and over.�
Taiwan is turning its attention to such value-added fastener products as sems and drill screws.
While China may be supplying fasteners to the rest of the world, it also is becoming a prime market. �What is the potential for the consumer market of a country with 1.3 billion people? As Chinese workers gain more pay, it is huge,� Taylor noted.
Pay is the major issue in the growth of China fastener production. In North America new mechanical engineers can earn about $37,500; in Taiwan $17,500; in the cities of China $7,500; and in rural areas of China $4,000.
Rural Chinese workers are migrating from rural areas to production centers along the coast for $60-a-month jobs plus living quarters.
Taiwan may be questioning its loss of production to China, especially competing with itself by setting up factories there, Taylor observed. But there is no turning back. �The horses are already out of the barn. There may be potholes and detours along the way, but everything is moving toward Shanghai.�
Editor�s Note: Taylor can be contacted IMS Fastener Solutions, 15678 Greenway-Hayden Loop #103, Scottsdale, AZ 85260. Tel: 480 607-7965 E-mail: jamest@aol.com
�2001 FastenerNews.com