Metal components supplier Tong Ming Enterprise Co Ltd (東明) on Oct. 6th, 2016 said it plans to tap into European markets next year, as anti-dumping duties are to expire this year.

"Tong Ming is to expand business in Europe by launching products with higher gross margin," company spokeswoman Ko Weng-ling (柯文玲) told an investors’ conference in Taipei.

With EU anti-dumping duties on some Chinese stainless steel products to expire this year, shipments of metal components to Europe are expected to increase in the near future, Ko said.

The company, headquartered in China’s Zhejiang Province, mainly manufactures stainless steel fasteners and steel wires for global customers, with one subsidiary in Kaohsiung and 33 in China.

The Kaohsiung unit serves as Tong Ming’s innovation center for its high-added-value products, including steel components used for building solar power plants and planes.

"We have received orders from some companies based in northern Europe and those high-margin products would be used for offshore wind power turbines," Ko told reporters after the conference.

With production volume this year being relatively flat compared to last year, Tong Ming is working to manufacture more high-margin steel components to raise gross margin, Ko added.

Tong Ming is one of the leading suppliers in China’s steel fastener market, with an annual capacity of more than 50,000 tonnes, according to its Web site.

In the first half of this year, sales of stainless steel fasteners accounted for 67.8 percent of the company’s total sales, while those from steel wires and high-margin products accounted for 21.4 percent and 11 percent respectively.

The company also plans to develop e-commerce services and automated storage systems in a bid to efficiently reduce operating expenses, Ko said.

"With those systems, we could immediately get orders from customers and control our inventories, and might be able to distribute products more quickly," she said.

The company is optimistic about its sales outlook in the fourth quarter, as nickel prices stabilize in the global market.

Nickel is the most important material for making stainless steel products, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the company’s production costs.

In the first half of this year, the company saw sales decrease 6 percent to NT$2.9 billion (US$92.3 million) annually, influenced by floating material costs.

Net profits during the same period declined 7.7 percent to NT$68.93 million from the previous year, company data showed.

Tong Ming shares gained 2.75 percent to NT$26.15 in Taipei trading on Oct. 6th, 2016.

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