Global Fastener News

Fastener Demand in China To Quadruple By 2010

Jason Sandefur

Rapid growth in manufacturing production, especially industrial machinery and motor vehicles, will drive industrial fastener demand in China up 9.4% annually to 40.2 billion yuan (US$5.32 billion) by 2010, an increase of more than 300% since 2000, according to a new 170-page report by the Cleveland-based Freedonia Group.
Rising production of electrical and electronic products will boost fastener demand, as will China’s modernization of its infrastructure and building construction activities, Industrial Fasteners in China found. The industrial fastener market will be tempered, however, by “functional competition from alternative joining technologies such as adhesives and welding, as well as new materials and manufacturing methods that reduce the number of fasteners required in durable goods production.”
Among standard fasteners, nonthreaded sales are posed to rise 10.4% annually to 10 billion yuan (US$1.32b) through 2010, stimulated by rapid growth in durable goods production and construction activity, along with further technological innovations in nonthreaded fastener design. In 2000 nonthreaded fastener sales in China totaled 2.14 billion yuan (US$283.6m).
“Externally threaded fasteners will remain the dominant standard fastener type, accounting for nearly three-fifths of total fastener demand, as these fasteners are less likely to be replaced by alternative joining methods,” the report noted. Externally threaded fastener demand will reach 23 billion yuan (US$3.04b) by 2010.
Demand for aerospace fasteners will see the sharpest rise, climbing 12% per year to 220 million yuan (US$29.08m) on government investment in nonbuilding construction, commercial aircraft, and aerospace and defense applications, Industrial Fasteners In China concluded. Despite the growth, aerospace fasteners will continue to comprise less than one% of total demand in China, compared with 20 of total fastener demand in the U.S. by 2010.
Demand for construction fasteners will outpace both OEM and MRO markets, with 10.8% annual growth driven by government funding for large-scale infrastructure construction and government efforts to increase private home ownership.
However, the OEM market will remain the largest in China, as demand is stimulated by rapid growth in the industrial machinery, motor vehicle, and electrical and electronic product markets.

Industrial Fasteners in China is available for $4,900 from The Freedonia Group Inc., 767 Beta Drive, Cleveland, OH 44143-2326. Tel: 440 684-9600 Fax 440 646-0484 Web: freedoniagroup.com �2007 FastenerNews.com