Status Quo of Taiwan Hand Tool Industry

Taiwan Hand Tool Manufacturers' Association chairman Wu told that vice president and Asia indutsrial product procurement supervisor of Stanley Black & Decker came to Taiwan to discuss with suppliers about the hand tool procurement for next year. This will be beneficial to the order acceptance of major hand tool plants including PROXENE TOOLS, ALLPROFESSIONAL MFG., APEX MANUFACTURING, and TONG LEE IND.

Wu stated that in 2011 China hand tool export value topped the world by USD 16 billion, followed by Japan's USD 4.4 billion, and Taiwan's USD 3.2 billion. If we divide Taiwan's figure by the population of 23 million people, Taiwan will top the world by its average production value.

According to Wu, in the past around 50% of the production value gathered in Europe, but Taiwan's hand tool export to Europe declined by 20% this year due to sluggish European economy. In contrast, Taiwan's export to Australia, Japan, and US rose.

In addition, the declining sales in Europe has led to less orders in Q3 and Q4. The export value this year is expected to further drop 10% from USD 2.9 billion of last year.