Taiwan Fastener Industry Faces Shipment Delay Due to Electroplating Plants Stoppage

Not long ago the media in Taiwan were talking about the stoppage of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. which discharged unpurified waste water into the river, and this event has escalated to the stoppage of most Taiwanese plants for electroplating and acid pickling, posing a threat to the current Taiwan fastener industry with annual manufacturing up to NTD120 billion. Most plants for fastener electroplating and acid pickling are located in southern Taiwan and 80% of them have temporarily stopped working, resulting in as high as 30% increase in electroplating costs and shipment delay for 2 to 3 months later.

President Tsai of Jin Her Enterprise said that although only 8 electroplating plants in Kaohsiung were required to stop working, tens of other legitimate acid pickling and electroplating plants have also actively stopped working for investigation. The director of a Tainan-based fastener plant said that it is a very difficult time for the industry after the stoppage. Taiwan is called “the Kingdom of Fasteners”, but is now suffering the bad time for the investigation of waste water discharge. He added, “Too many problems must be solved.”

This will cause tremendous impact on the fastener manufacturing in Taiwan as well as delay the shipment. Taiwan fastener industry expects that Taiwan CSC can come to help them get out of the difficulties. They appeal to Taiwan CSC to jointly form a new waste disposal and treatment company, and therefore the medium to small sized fastener companies will not be afraid of the strict regulations for environment protection in the future. This is considered viable as CSC Group has other affiliated and relevant companies like Ecotek and CHC Resources. According to the analysis of a legal person, big companies like Chun Yu or Jinn Her, with a complete set of facilities, may not be greatly influenced by the stoppage this time.