At present, China mainland is the largest fastener manufacturer in the world, and the U.S. and EU are the most important consumers. Taiwan is the most important production partner. For comparison of fastener industry in China mainland and Taiwan, there are about 1,300 fastener manufacturers and traders and nearly thirty thousand of employment in China mainland. China mainland mainly manufactures lower-class fastener, which is mainly used for machinery, construction and common industrial purposes. Fastener having high strength and high precision partly depends on import, which is mainly used for automobile, electronics products and electronic equipment. In the past 30 years, Taiwan began from low carbon steel fastener. Now, the production level has already been improved to higher class fastener which can be used for auto and construction in the Western. Taiwan is also continuing developing new alloy materials used for aerospace fastener.
China mainland wins the competition by quantity while quality and technology still need to be improved. Taiwan is striving for product upgrading. Establishing complete one-stop service for customers is the next objective of manufacturers in Taiwan.
Major projects and auto industry in China mainland have been developed a lot in recent years. The requirements for high class fastener are growing gradually. In recent years, the import of fastener in China shows the trend of slight increasing. In terms of export, fastener manufactured by Chinese manufacturers still has the problem such as low class, low price and unstable quality. China mainland extends market share mainly depending on quantity increasing. The U.S. is the largest exporter for Chinese fastener industry, accounting for 20% of export market. The followings are respectively Japan (6%), Russia (4%), Korea (3%) and Germany (3%).
For global industry transferring into specialization of work, European auto manufacturers are in pursuit of overseas production of fastener used for auto, which resulting in prominent revenue performance of screw manufacturers mainly on auto fastener in Taiwan. The U.S. is still the largest exporter for Taiwan fastener industry, accounting for 40%. The followings are Germany (9%), Netherlands (5%), Japan (5%) and UK (4%).
In terms of trade between mainland and Taiwan, the export volume from mainland to Taiwan in 2014 was 39 million dollars. The average export unit price was 1.87 dollars per kilogram. Mainland has obviously trade deficit to Taiwan fastener industry. For unit price, the products exported from mainland to Taiwan are lower class products while products from Taiwan to mainland are higher class products.
In mainland, fastener industry is always accompanying with national development strategy. Promotion of the 13th Five-Year-Plan and One Belt and One Road and opportunity brought by international strategy of high speed rail industry make domestic demands still strong during industrialization and urbanization. Predicted constant growth rate of more than 6% in auto industry and investment growth of more than 20% in rail construction promote manufacturing industry and emerging industry to develop, changing from producer in the past to production power.
In addition, besides keeping cost advantages, industrial technology of fastener in China can be improved through the demands in downstream industries such as auto, wind driven generator, engineering machinery, aerospace and nuclear power plant.
In contrast, Taiwan fastener mainly depends on export sales. Currently, the main customers are the U.S. and EU. The U.S. is the main source if importer for both Taiwan and mainland. However, they have difference on categories and unit price. For the moment, Taiwan is leading for high end products and technology. In the future, mainland may transfer from frequenter to major client for Taiwan. If the industrial technology of fastener in mainland is developed constantly, it can challenge the quality of fasteners in Taiwan.
As is known to all, fastener is considered as rice of industry, a key part of industrial components. Fastener plays a key role in aerospace, aircraft, energy equipment, engine of auto and parts of mobile.