Global Fastener News

Taiwan’s exports have grown steadily at “a 20-degree forward slash trajectory in the last 20 years,” according to a report by Fastener World magazine.

Even through the global economic recession starting in 2007, “Taiwan’s fastener exports remained on a growth track,” Fastener World reported.  While growth slowed from 13%, Taiwan fastener exports climbed 7%.

The 2009 European debt crisis cut exports from Taiwan 34%, but rebounded by nearly 60% to regain losses in 2010.

Asian countries experienced a double-digit export drop in 2015 – but Taiwan’s exports dropped only 4%.

When the U.S. imposed tariffs on China in 2018, Taiwan’s fastener export value grew 13%.  

Fastener World attributed Taiwan’s growth to the country’s “unity, division of work, and helping each other.”

“In every drastic change such as supply chain shortages, Taiwan’s fastener and related business owners can always forge collaborations and redeploy capacity as appropriate to weather Taiwan through each crisis,” according to Fastener World.

“Taiwan’s fasteners are an indispensable critical industry, so it is not like smart phones, PCs, semiconductors, automobiles and machines that are much subject to the changes on the international market.”

During the last two decades, more than 100 Taiwanese companies invested to set up plants in China and Southeast Asia, influencing Taiwan’s fastener production. 

“Issues with population, land, market and tax are among the factors that push many Taiwanese fastener companies to make investments abroad.”

The biggest factor is wire rod cost, Fastener World concluded.

“Fortunately, in the 2018 trade war, the U.S. imposed an additional 25% tax on China, and Europe imposed up to 86.5% tax on China’s fasteners at the start of 2022,” Fastener World noted.  “Taiwan benefits from this and has achieved explosive overseas sales over the last two years.”

“The current consensus is that the next big swarm of purchase orders is expected to arrive in Q1 or Q2, 2023, and the reasons include the end of the Russia-Ukraine war and a halt of U.S. interest rate hikes. The pandemic may come to an end as well so it will speed up economic recovery.”

Fastener World acknowledged that “challenges will not stop coming to Taiwan, but this country has 40 years of proven experience and resilience to pick itself up and come out of a whirlpool.  Taiwan has steadily come out of the pandemic and will stick to its industry value to get through next year’s challenges.”