fasteners

China's exports of hardware fasteners are growing steadily, even as suppliers cope with numerous challenges including fluctuating raw material costs and increasing wages. In the past couple of years, the country's overseas shipments of hardware fasteners have risen more than 30 percent annually. In 2005,export volume grew 33 percent to exceed 2.4 million tons, generating about US$2.5 billion in revenue, a year on-year increase of almost 39 percent. In 2005, China turned out 3.9 million tons or US$3.7 billion worth of fasteners, up 14.7％ from the year before and securing it one quarter of the global market. Exports alone accounted for 1.5 million tons and US$1.79 billion in value, the highest among Chinese-made hardware parts. In recent years, despite the energy crunch and rising materials costs, China`s fastener industry continued to barrel ahead. During the 2001-2005 period, output in the segment grew at an average annual clip of 14.32％; revenue rose 23.07％; export volume increased 24.91％; and exports jumped in value by 31.95％. While the Chinese fastener industry accounts for one fourth of the global output volume, its share of the global output value reaches only one tenth, with its average export price reaching US$1,240 per ton, only one eighth of US$9,000 for imported fasteners. Moreover, along with the development of the Chinese auto and machinery industries, imports of high-priced fasteners have surged and so have their price tags, widening their price lead over exported Chinese-made fasteners.