Insight

A review and preview of the global fastener market

Named after the Roman god who is often depicted as having two faces – due to its ability to look to the future and to the past – the Janus Perspective is a unique feature that includes a wide cross section of global fastener business leaders, who have all contributed their retrospective of 2021 and thoughts on prospects and challenges for 2022.

Wilhelm Böllhoff, CEO

As a business when we look back on 2021, we are at first quite happy – volumes are back to pre-pandemic times, profit is reasonable and order intake is good. However, on second viewing it is a bit more critical – with prices, delivery times and general availability of fasteners (and everything else) challenging all of us a lot.

With this in mind, when it comes to 2022 we will look to be more alert on what can or will happen. For instance, how we work alongside our customers when it comes to higher material and service prices, as well as potential anti-dumping duties. There are also questions on when industries, especially the automotive sector, will restart production to pre-pandemic levels, as well as how long will the lack of semiconductor chips impact sectors. Of course, Covid-19 is still not going away with the new variant. How will the pandemic situation in Europe, and globally, continue to impact consumption and GDP growth? There are as many questions and risks as there are answers and chances for 2022.

Overall Böllhoff Group will continue with its ‘passion for successful joining’ and we will look to continue the process of globalising and diversifying our business, as we have done over recent decades. I encourage everyone to stay optimistic for 2022.