North America Fasteners Survey Report 2011

North America's fastener industry developed well in 2011 According to the US FIN survey results, most of the US fastener companies in 2011 delivered a beautiful report card in both sales and profits.

According to the survey, in 2011, 78% of the sales of fastener companies achieved steady or strong growth. In the past two consecutive years, there have been more than three-quarters of fastener companies achieving sales growth. Among them, 50% of fastener companies achieved steady growth, and 28% achieved strong growth. The remaining 12% of the survey respondents said that their performance was sluggish in 2011, and 5% indicated that the company’s annual income had dropped by a certain extent.

In addition, the profits of fastener companies in North America increased correspondingly in 2011. 73% of the fastener manufacturers, distributors, importers, and electroplating factories participating in the survey stated that profits have increased, of which over 49% have Steady growth was achieved, with 24% showing strong growth. About 20% of the companies stated that their profits were the same as in 2010, with only 2% indicating a slight bottoming drop.

For the 2012 forecast, most fastener companies have expressed relative optimism. 79% of the companies stated that sales will maintain growth in the coming months. About 60% of them are expected to achieve steady growth, 21% said they will achieve strong growth, and only 1% said they will decline.

In 2012, fastener companies expect profits to increase accordingly, with 82% of companies surveyed saying that the 2012 profit will increase, of which 61% will show a steady increase, and 21% will show strong growth.

In 2011, the FIN sales index increased from 3.8 in 2010 to 4.3, while the profit index rebounded from the lowest value of 2.14 in 2009 to 3.9. In the coming months, the sales index of fastener companies is expected to increase to 4.5, while the profit index will increase to 4.2.

Improvement of economic confidence For the economic outlook of North America in 2012, more than one-third of the respondents said they are more confident, while nearly 50% said they have relatively confidence in the domestic economy. 3% are full of confidence. None of the companies that participated in the survey two years ago expressed their confidence in the economic situation in 2010. Only 1% of the survey this year said that it is not optimistic about the future economic prospects, and 6% said that the confidence is relatively low.

55% of the participating companies said that they are relatively optimistic about the global economic situation, 21% have low confidence in the international market, and 16% are more confident.

Recruitment to reduce wages will be raised in 2011 more than half of the fastener companies have recruited new employees, an increase of 40% over 2010.

Although the sales and profits of fastener companies have all increased in 2011, 24% of fastener companies have not recruited new employees. This shows that North American fastener companies have learned how to complete certain tasks with fewer personnel. jobs.

In 2012, few companies indicated that they would lay off their employees. Although fastener companies’ confidence in the North American economy is gradually increasing and they have a certain budget for costs, 50% of the fastener companies indicated that they have not planned to increase new personnel.

In spite of this, in 2012, fastener companies have plans to increase employee compensation.

Appearance of fasteners has moderately increased 2011 North American fastener prices have been floating.

More than 30% of the companies said that the price is stable, 6% said that the average price fell by 15%, 1/3 of the companies said that the price of fasteners has risen, the rate of increase of 1% to 5%. Nearly 21% of the companies said that the price increase was 10% to 30%.

In addition, more than 60% of the fastener companies stated that the price of fasteners will continue to increase in 2012, while 19% of them will maintain stability. Of these, 58% said that there will be moderate growth, and 3% said that there will be substantial growth. Only 1% said that there will be a decline in the next few months, and the remaining 17% said that they cannot predict future changes.

The fastener companies whose performance index increased by more than 75% indicated that the overall business had improved in 2011, pushing the 2011 FIN corporate performance index to 6.9 from 6.2 in 2010.

The FIN index reached 7.9 in 1994, the highest in 17 years, and the lowest in 2009 was 3.9.

At the end of 2011, 35% of the respondents had strong growth in the company's performance, 38% said they had a steady increase, and 23% said they had not changed. Only 1% of claims fell slightly, and none of the companies reported a straight decline.

Steady Growth in Distributor Profits Inventories of North American fastener distributors continued to grow in 2011, with the inventory index rising from 4.1 in 2010 to 4.4.

However, the cost of many companies also increased in 2011. The cost of 7% of distributors showed modest growth, 40% of them were under control, and 1/2 of them said that costs were relatively stable.

In spite of this, 50% of distributors in 2011 said that the cost has experienced moderate to substantial growth, and the cost index rose from 2.8 in 2010 to 3.2.

In addition, the profit rate increased for two consecutive years, from 39.4% to 41%. "Our products are sold to all types of fastener distributors, and most of them seem to perform well," said one interviewed manufacturer.

The supply of North American fasteners was good in 2011.

In 2012, the factory gradually increased its production capacity. In 2011, fastener manufacturers increased their production capacity for the second consecutive year. Inventory turnover, spot finished goods and raw materials have all improved over 2010.

In 2011, the fastener manufacturer's production capacity increased by nearly 10 percentage points, and the average production capacity of the entire industry reached 73%, a record high since the 1990s. In the FIN17 survey, 59% of the average production capacity in 2009 was the lowest in history.