Boosted by Economic Recovery, Taiwan’s Hand Tools Export is Expected to Reach New High

Taiwan hand tool industry is export-oriented and around 70% of its hand tool production is for export. In 2017 its export once climbed to USD 3.758 billion (the highest record since 2003) due to economic recovery and increasing int’l raw material prices and the YoY growth was 10.5%. In 2018 when the economic recovery continued to be strong, Taiwan exported USD 3.52 billion worth of hand tools in total during the first 11 months of 2018 (YoY growth: 3.0%). The full-year (2018) export is expected to reach new high again.  
 
According to the recently released statistics by Ministry of Economic Affairs (Taiwan) for Taiwan’s hand tools export, in the first 11 months of 2018 around 74.5% of Taiwan’s hand tools exports were non-power hand tools, 19.6% were pneumatic hand tools, and 5.9% were power hand tools. Compared to the year 2012, the export of pneumatic hand tools increased by 2.0%, power hand tools increased by 1.8% and non-power hand tools reduced by 3.8%.
 
In terms of U.S. hand tools import by country, China (incl. HK) was the largest import origin (its share in the first 10 months of 2018 in the U.S. was 50.1%, followed by Germany at 8.3%, Mexico at 7.4% and Taiwan at 6.6%.). In terms of the hand tools import of China (incl. HK) in the first 11 months of 2018, Japan as the largest import origin took 25.6% of the market share, followed by Germany at 20.1% and Taiwan at 10.4%. If viewed by product, Taiwan took 18.2% of the market share in U.S. pneumatic hand tools import, making it the 2nd largest import origin. Taiwan also took 21.6% of the market share in China (incl. HK) pneumatic hand tools import, making it the biggest import origin for China. 
 
USA is the world’s largest consumer market for hand tools and has been the largest export destination for Taiwan’s hand tools.  In 2017 Taiwan exported USD 1.208 billion worth of hand tools to USA, taking 32.2% of the market share, followed by China (incl. HK) at 13.2% (USD 0.495 billion), Germany at 5.8% and Japan at 5.6%. Since 2012, Taiwan’s hand tools export to the U.S. has been growing continuously.