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 2019 and thoughts on prospects and challenges for 2020.

Daniel Gellert, managing director

2019 was a challenging year in many ways, but also a year full of opportunities and ideas. I became managing director in May 2018 and thanks to my time as an apprentice I have gained background knowledge and experience of the company, my colleagues, as well as our customers and suppliers. This will help to ensure WASI remains a modern big player in the market that stands out from the rest of the conservative stainless steel trade in a special way.

One of the challenges in 2019 has been the difficult situation in the nickel market, which is an important raw material in our stainless steel products. We were forced to experience the full range of highs and lows that one can imagine as a stainless steel trader. The decline in the price of nickel, which began in September 2018, lasted until May 2019. As a result, the capacity utilisation of suppliers in the Far East was very low and led to a chain of consequences.

Dealers were slow to place orders and manufacturers’ delivery times were shortened. Capacities at the larger dealers were underutilised. The Indonesian export ban on nickel and the Tesla effect certainly played their part in the tense situation. The trade conflict between the USA and China also had a negative impact on nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange. Like other commodities, the price of nickel was extremely sensitive to the statements of various politicians and to general and political developments.

The nickel market is very competitive due to a large number of resellers in Europe. With the USA as the monopoly, there is an enormous contrast. As a result of current purchasing behaviour, and full stocks among market participants, business with stainless steel fasteners has become more capital-intensive.

For 2020 and the years to come, I expect this situation to intensify even further and that there will be a concentration in the number of dealers. Smaller traders will no longer be able to survive on the market in the future. A few importers will ultimately win this battle. WASI is definitely one of them. I am convinced that we are more than well positioned in the market due to our financial strength, our company size and with almost 60 years of accumulated know-how. We will continue to expand our market size and significance as a distributor for fasteners in the future.

We will achieve this through various steps, including, among other things, fully meeting the requirements and wishes of our customers. I am sure that success will depend on good relationship management with our customers, which the WASI team maintains every day. In addition, there are our stable processes, which can meet all market requirements. With our on-time delivery and our highly modern logistics centre, we are perfectly positioned for this.

We have adapted our product range to customer specifications and are more than proud that innovations from our company, such as the 3D height adjustment element, have been patented. We will also continue to expand our range in other areas, such as maritime. In the future, we will not only focus on classic fasteners, but will also enter new market fields or technologies together with our customers. We will continue to inspire and retain our current as well as new customers. Together with our committed WASI team, we will achieve this.