In 2014, China will become a major demand for fasteners

2010 can be said to be a year in China's fastener domestic market. The recovery of the global economy and the stimulation of macro policies, and the just-released rebound of the China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) in August, once again confirmed the judgment that China's economy will recover, and the potential of China's domestic fastener market is expected to be further released.

China will lead Asia-Pacific growth

The report predicts that by 2014, sales of fasteners in the Asia-Pacific region will show the strongest growth momentum. The demand for fasteners in China will grow at a rate of 12.8% per year, ranking first in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2009, China’s production of motor vehicles surpassed Japan, becoming the world's largest motor vehicle manufacturing country, bringing business opportunities to China’s domestic industrial fastener manufacturers. The report also predicts that by 2014, the growth of fastener production in China will exceed the growth in demand. In 2009, fastener manufacturers in the United States created more value in fastener manufacturing than in the past, but by 2014 China will easily exceed the United States and become the world's largest fastener manufacturer.

Foreign-funded enterprises will continue to set up factories in China to better utilize China's advantages in low production costs. In addition, the production of high-end fasteners in the United States, Japan, Western Europe and other developed countries and regions will continue to maintain its leading position. However, with the growth of China's economy and the continuous enrichment of manufacturing experience, the technological gap between China and these developed countries will be further reduced.

Judging from past developments, the demand for industrial fasteners in developed regions such as the United States, Western Europe, and Japan has slowed compared with developing countries. However, before 2014, this situation did not all occur in developed regions in the world, because the demand for industrial fasteners rebounded after many durable goods manufacturing (especially motor vehicles) suffered setbacks and plummeted in 2008-2009. With the strong recovery of the motor vehicle industry and the rapid growth of durable goods manufacturing, the demand for fasteners in these areas will also increase.

Motor market remains the main market

In 2009, the demand for fasteners in the automotive market ranked first in all markets. It is predicted that due to the strong recovery in global car production, the motor vehicle market will remain the most important market for fastener demand by 2014. However, in some countries, the growth of automotive fasteners may be controlled by small cars and modular production.

In 2009, external thread standard fasteners accounted for more than 50% of all fastener sales. It is expected that by 2014, the market share of such fasteners will continue at the same level. The report also pointed out that all types of industrial fasteners will show considerable growth, but due to the steady delivery of aerospace equipment, the growth of aerospace fasteners will lag behind fasteners used in other industries.