China's fastener industry urgently needs transformation and upgrading

Abstract: On July 15th, the WTO Appellate Body ruled against China’s fasteners case that China won a case, but in the past three years, one third of the fastener industry-wide companies have closed down or In the suspended state, one-third of the companies are in a state of loss, and only one-third of the companies can maintain a meagre profit. Businesses have come to realize that the transition is imminent.

On July 15th, a WTO ruling by the WTO's appellate body on the China Fastener Appeal attracted a lot of attention. In this ruling, the WTO finally ruled that China had won a suit in the main lawsuit point of fasteners, both at the expert group stage and the appeal stage. This also became China’s first case of prosecution of the European Union’s anti-dumping success after joining the WTO. case.

But it is heartening that, although the anti-dumping case against the EU finally won, but in the past three years, Zhejiang fastener companies have experienced a life-and-death pain. At present, one-third of all fastener companies in the industry are closed or in suspension. One-third of companies are in a state of deficit, and only one-third of companies can maintain a meagre profit. As a result, the Chinese fastener industry has lost 400 million euros in foreign exchange earnings every year and lost 800,000 jobs. Regardless of whether the transition is active or passive, the enterprises in Zhejiang have clearly realized that the transition is imminent.

As the largest manufacturing and exporting country in the global fastener industry, why not have the right to speak, but no pricing power? Will similar anti-dumping efforts make a comeback?

The author believes that if the industry does not change the status quo, it may still encounter anti-dumping in the future. Recently, in Haiyan County, Jiaxing, where carbon steel products are relatively concentrated, the government has issued an outline on the development of the fastener industry. Currently, the demand for high-end fastener products in foreign markets is roughly the same as the demand for low-end fastener products, and the market share is still very large. Among them, high-value-added products have the highest competitiveness and are therefore very high. Therefore, for fastener companies in China, Industrial upgrading is imminent.

Product structure adjustment is one of the most urgent problems to be solved. The fastener production business seeks diversified development, realizes the transition from low added value to high added value, from standard parts to non-standard shaped parts, and increases high end high strength for automotive fasteners and aviation fasteners. Research and development of fasteners. At present, many domestic fastener companies have entered the special industry and have made some gains.