¡@Pens play a very crucial role in our daily lives. In Taiwan, the stationery industry started very late but has developed at a rapid pace. Most of the pens exported to the West are made in Taiwan. However, few people around the world know Taiwan is a main pen-manufacturing country as most of the pens are on an OEM basis. The following is some information on Taiwan’s pen industry.

 

¡@¡@The Developing Trend

¡@¡@  Instead of import, Taiwan’s economic policy changed to encourage the local production. Meanwhile, based on the new economic policy, the stationery industry in Taiwan also ajusted their operations plans from improting to manufacturing on their own. See Figure 2-2-1:

¡@¡@¡@Figure 2-2-1 The Developing Trend of Taiwan’s Pen Industry

Age
Development tendency
Before Taiwan's retrocession
There was only one crude pencil factory.
¡@
The Early Period of Taiwan’s Retrocession Although there were some chalk, crayon and ink factories, they were seen as small-scale family businesses.
After 1951 Modest factories such as ballpoint, pencil, crayon, watercolor, ink started to appear in the market.
After 1961 Being able to satisfy the domestic demand and have the ability to export, The stationery industry started to open up its own market.
Over the past few years Taiwan’s stationery industry has develoeped stabily, and the manufacturers consistantly adopt innovative and relevant techniques from overseas to advance the designs and better the quality, boosting the sales of their own brand. Therefore, Taiwan’s export of stationery has always performed very well and successfully.

Source: Lee Jun (2004)

 

¡@¡@The Rivals in the Pen Market

¡@¡@ Accoriding to the statistics of Taiwan Association of Stationery Industries (2011), Japan is the Taiwan’s largest staionery importer. In 1933, one of Japan’s famous stationery manufacturers set up a branch in Taiwan, and since then, the imported pens have dominated Taiwan’s pen market.(Figure 2-2-2)

¡@¡@¡@Figure 2-2-2 Taiwan’s rivals in the pen market

Nation
Key Factors
Japan The stationery industry is flourishing in Japan. Due to the high quality and cutting-edge styles, Japanese stationery is very popular in Taiwan, especially roller ball pens as they use ball point writing mechanisms with water-based liquid or gelled ink which tend to saturate more deeply and more widely into paper.
China and Countries in Southeast Asia Imported from China and Southeast Asia, with a lower price and various styles, the stationery goods result in a stationery price war among the companies in Taiwan. Tang Jing Chuan, the chairman of Taiwan Association of Stationery Industries, pointed out that the stress of competition from China had recently impacted Taiwan’s stationery industries’ performance resulting in the consistant reduction of exported pens. However, Taiwan’s stationery industries still have certain advantages in product design and quality control.

Source: Lee Jun (2004), Taiwan Association of Stationery Industries (2011)

 

¡@¡@Different Requirements from Different Customers

¡@¡@ Students and office workers are 2 main groups of using the pens, but both have different requirements depicted in Figure 2-2-3.

¡@¡@¡@Table 2-2-3 Buying Focus of Major Consumer Cluster in Taiwan

Consumers
Office workers

 Students
requirements
  1. Useful, comfortable and convenient
  2. Price is not a key consideration
  3. Add colors to the design, thick pens comfortable to hold.
  1. Colorful, various features and styles
  2. Inexpensive
  3. Easy to use and convenient to carry.
The Change of Customers Since the introduction of the personal computers, the demand for the office stationery such as pens, paper and files has been reduced. Thus, students become the main consumers of stationery.

Source Lee Jun (2004)

 

¡@¡@Grand annual occasion of Pens Manufacturers

¡@¡@ To give the opportunities to stationery manufacturers to open up new markets, every year, Taiwan External Trade Development Council hosts Taipei International Book Exhibition in January and Giftionery Taipei in February, which are the most important events for Taiwan’s stationery industry.

 
Picture 2-2-1 The Poster of the 20th TIBE
Source : Shiaodi (2012)		 Picture 2-2-2 2013 The Cover of Booklet for Giftionery Taipei 2013
Source: TAITRA (2013)

 

¡@¡@The Future Plans

¡@¡@Taiwan Association of Stationery Industries pointed out that there will be unexpected outcome if the manufacturers make an effort to advance the research, production management and market expansion. See Figure 2-2-5

¡@¡@¡@Figure 2-2-5 The Future Plans for Taiwan’s Stationery Industries

Items
Strategies
Market Promoting
  1. To encourage the manufacturers to develop their own brands and offer comprehensive after-sale services to obtain the profits.
  2. To analyze the market information to explore the internaional trends.
  3. To open new markets and depend less on USA, HK and Japan markets.
R&D
  1. To use non-toxic ink ,paint and recycled materials to produce eco-friendly pens.
  2. To follow the latest fashion to develop and design products with new features.
  3. To improve the packaging and increase the creativeness and exquisiteness of products to make them unique.
  4. To enhance the research and development and to better the quality. To reduce the reliance on German and Japanese components.
Production Management
  1. To cut down the costs and solve the labor shortage with auto producing technology.
  2. To reduce the quantity and produce more styles to   make the products unique and diverse.
  3.  To strengthen the process of production, material management and storage planning to enhance competitiveness.

Source : Lee Jun (2004), Taiwan Association of Stationery Industries (2011)