Page 39 - Taiwan Hand Tools - 2021-03 Edition

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INDUSTRY TRENDS

Hand Tools and Related ools and Related
Hand T

Industries T
Industries Tentatively Optimistic entatively Optimistic

Heading into 2021
Heading into 2021

Stephanie Chao
ith the industry undergoing development for over In 2020, current obtainable statistics reported by
Whalf a century, Taiwan’s hand tools industry has Taiwan’s non-profit trade promotion organization Taiwan
grown into the world’s second-largest export country, and External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) show that
one of Taiwan’s most critical outbound-oriented industries in the fi rst ten months of 2020, the hand tools export value
by housing the entire production chain, from upstream to saw a 3.6% YoY decline. While Taiwan remained mostly
downstream and handling operations ranging from molding, unaffected by the pandemic as of writing, other countries
heat treatment, forging, electroplating, and assembly in were not so lucky. As hand tools rely on the performance
Central Taiwan. In numbers, approximately 70% of the of different industries, such as machinery, aviation,
industry is clustered in the central region. Each year, the aerospace, and automotive, to name a few, these were also
hand tools industry can create approximately NTD$120 heavily-hit sectors as economic performance suffered amid
billion in industry value. The most signifi cant advantage to quarantines and lockdowns, further impacting Taiwan’s
Taiwan’s centralization of the hand tools cluster in Central hand tool fi rms in the fi rst half of 2020.
Taiwan is that due to the varied and complicated processes
required to produce a hand tool, it would be difficult for Yet, other sectors performed surprisingly well, having
companies to oversee each operation under one roof, bounced back from the initial decline in the early stages of
thus strengthening Taiwan’s role as a top hand tool export the pandemic. According to an industry report issued by
country. TAITRA, Taiwan’s housing industry saw signifi cant growth,
bolstering the construction industry. Coupled with the deep-
Taiwan’s hand tools businesses enjoyed transferred rooted DIY culture in Europe and the U.S. — a signifi cant
orders from China as the U.S. imposed trade restrictions outbound market destination for Taiwan — TAITRA expects
on the world’s most prominent economic entity in the hand to see the global hand tools market to grow USD$262
tools industry. For example, the hand tools industry saw the billion between 2020 and 2024.
most lucrative growth in terms of export value in 2018, at
USD$ 3.86 billion. However, in 2019, the synergy propelling The non-profi t organization pointed out that despite the
transferred orders from China faltered into 2019, which saw YoY decline between January and October 2020, Taiwan
a slight decline to USD$3.8 billion. held onto a positive growth of 6.6% and 5.9% to the U.S.

Taiwan Hand Tools 2021 Issue