Small and medium-sized enterprises are under pressure but striving to overcome it. The iron ring-shaped flat-head nail industry is undergoing a rapid reshuffle.

The flat-head iron ring-shaped screws, as the basic category in the field of metal fasteners, are widely used in various downstream sectors such as building decoration, furniture manufacturing, packaging and transportation, and agricultural greenhouses. The development of this industry is deeply intertwined with the steel raw material market, environmental protection policy orientation, and the structure of downstream demand. Recently, due to the combined influence of multiple factors, this industry has shown the development characteristics of "structural optimization, polarization, and accelerated transformation". The relevant industry knowledge and development dynamics are worthy of close attention.
Raw material supply is the core foundation determining the development of the industry. The nails of this category mainly use low-carbon hot-rolled wire rods such as Q195 and Q215 as raw materials, with the raw material cost accounting for 70%-75% of the total production cost. The price fluctuation of raw materials directly affects the overall profit space of the industry. Recently, the domestic wire rod steel prices have remained relatively stable, with the average price of Q195 wire rod in Tangshan region remaining within the range of 4200-4600 yuan/ton, effectively alleviating the cost pressure on enterprises. At the same time, the industry's reliance on scrap steel resources continues to deepen, with the proportion of electric furnace short-process technology reaching 68.3%, and the blending ratio of recycled steel in cold heading steel production reaching 57.2%. The price difference between recycled screws and new screws has narrowed to 150 yuan/ton, promoting further adjustment of the market product structure. In addition, the cost of environmental protection auxiliary materials has risen, with non-chrome passivators and water-based coatings that comply with the EU RoHS directive priced 20%-30% higher than traditional products, raising the manufacturing threshold for green products.
The market landscape shows a clear two-pole division trend, with multiple breakthroughs in the export market. In the domestic market, leading enterprises, leveraging their large-scale procurement capabilities, futures hedging abilities, and advanced production processes, focus on the high-end market and supply high-quality new material nails that meet the requirements of foreign construction enterprises and well-known furniture manufacturers. Their products have passed relevant quality certifications and have a high added value. However, small and medium-sized workshops, constrained by funds and technology, mostly produce recycled material nails, which have problems such as brittleness and insufficient rust prevention performance. They mainly circulate in rural self-built houses and low-end packaging markets, and the intensified homogeneity competition has led to pressure on profits. In terms of exports, since 2025, the export volume of iron flat-head nails from China has increased by 4.6% year-on-year. The market structure has shifted from being dominated by Europe and America to a diversified layout. The demand in Vietnam, Thailand and other ASEAN countries has grown significantly, and there has been explosive growth in the markets of Central Asia and Africa. The export volume of countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan has increased by more than 50%, becoming a new growth pole for the industry.
Greening, upgrading and intelligence have become the core directions of industry transformation. With the advancement of the "dual carbon" goal and stricter environmental regulations, the traditional hot tin plating process has been gradually replaced by environmentally friendly phosphating and electrophoretic processes. The penetration rate of green surface treatment technologies such as chrome-free passivation has continued to increase. Although the price of green environmentally friendly nails is 10%-15% higher than that of ordinary products, the market demand is strong. At the same time, the structure of export products has continued to upgrade. By 2026, the proportion of products exported to Europe and America and certified by TUV or UL will increase from 40% to 55%. The off-shore unit price of such high-value-added products is 200-300 US dollars per ton higher than that of similar products exported to Southeast Asia. In terms of regional layout, production capacity is acceleratingly concentrated in the three major clusters of Hebei, Shandong and Jiangsu. The combined production capacity of these three provinces accounts for 61%. Jiangsu, with its port advantages, contributes 37% of the national export volume. In addition, intelligent production is gradually being implemented. The application of automated production lines and intelligent quality inspection systems has effectively improved product accuracy and production efficiency.
The current industry still faces numerous challenges. The problem of structural overcapacity in production is particularly prominent. The nominal total production capacity exceeds 6.3 million tons, while the actual utilization rate is only 78%. A large number of small and micro workshops engaging in low-price dumping have intensified market competition, and the average gross profit margin of the entire industry has been reduced to 9%-12%. At the same time, the promotion of prefabricated construction has led to the replacement of traditional flat-headed nails with specialized structural nails, and the emergence of threats from new materials such as engineering plastics. Coupled with issues such as the aging of some small and medium-sized enterprises' production equipment and insufficient technological innovation capabilities, the industry consolidation continues to advance. In the future, as environmental protection policies continue to tighten and technologies keep upgrading, the industry will continue to transform towards standardization, greenness, and high-endization. Technological innovation, cost control, and diversified market layout will become the key for enterprises to achieve sustainable development.