18-8 stainless steel spiral nails (made of 304 stainless steel, containing 18% chromium and 8% nickel), as the core representative of high-end fasteners, have recently shown a stable and progressive development trend under the dual drive of manufacturing upgrading and policy dividends. According to industry reports, the overall market size of stainless steel screws in China will reach 48.76 billion yuan in 2024. Among them, 18-8 material products, due to their excellent corrosion resistance and mechanical strength, occupy over 60% of the high-end market share and have become essential components in fields such as new energy and high-end equipment.
Policy guidance anchors the direction of industry development. The National Development and Reform Commission has clearly stated in its policies for regulating crude steel production that it encourages fastener enterprises to transform towards high-end development and offers tax incentives to those that adopt environmentally friendly processes and intelligent equipment. At the local level, efforts have been made in a coordinated manner. As a national-level fastener industrial cluster, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, has established a special fund to support the technological transformation of 18-8 screw nail enterprises. Through technological transformation, local leading enterprises have achieved a production efficiency increase of over 30%. Meanwhile, industry standards have been continuously improved, and the new version of "Requirements for Corrosion Resistance of Stainless Steel Fasteners" has been implemented, further standardizing market access and promoting small and medium-sized enterprises to accelerate the elimination of backward production capacity.
Technological upgrading has become the key to breaking through the cost pressure. In terms of raw materials, the price of 304 stainless steel will show a wide range of fluctuations in 2025. In June, the price of hot-rolled steel fluctuated within the range of 12,500 to 12,700 yuan per ton. The tight supply of nickel ore and chromium ore has pushed up production costs. In response to this, enterprises have counterbalanced the pressure through technological innovation: The wide-temperature range 18-8 spiral nail developed by Wuxi Asmi has maintained structural stability after a -101℃ impact test and has achieved two years of non-deformation operation in a 500MW photovoltaic power plant in Xinjiang. With a special process, the product's premium has been increased by 25%. Ningbo Sijin Intelligent's cold heading equipment has achieved import substitution, improving the processing accuracy of spiral nails from ±0.05mm to ±0.02mm, and helping enterprises undertake high-end orders.
The expansion of application scenarios has injected new impetus into the industry. The new energy sector has become the biggest growth point. Due to its temperature difference resistance and fatigue resistance, 18-8 spiral nails are widely used in photovoltaic brackets and wind power equipment. The high cost-performance product launched by Zhejiang Yongnian has reduced the initial cost of a 100MW photovoltaic power plant by 300,000 yuan. In the aerospace and medical device fields, its excellent biocompatibility and corrosion resistance have also opened up new space. After leading enterprises passed the ISO 13485 medical system certification, the gross profit margin of related products increased to over 40%. In addition, the demand for extreme working conditions such as Marine engineering and chemical storage tanks has further driven the research and development investment of high-strength 18-8 spiral nails.
The export market has performed outstandingly. China has remained the top exporter of stainless steel screws globally. In the first half of 2025, its export volume reached 176,000 batches, far exceeding that of competitors such as Vietnam and the United States. Asean is a core overseas market, accounting for 32% of the total export volume of 18-8 spiral nails, mainly used for the construction of local photovoltaic power stations. The European market focuses on high-end demands. The unit price of products that have passed REACH certification is 50% higher than that of ordinary products. However, the industry still faces challenges. The homogeneous competition among small and medium-sized enterprises has compressed the profit margins of some low-end products to below 5%, and the fluctuations in raw material prices have also put forward higher requirements for inventory management.
Overall, the 18-8 stainless steel spiral nail industry is currently undergoing a transformation period of "high-end upgrading and inefficient clearance" in the recent stage. With technological iteration and the upgrading of market demands, enterprises with core advantages such as wide temperature range adaptation and high-precision processing will continue to lead. In the future, driven by new energy and high-end manufacturing, the industry is expected to achieve a stable growth of 5% to 6%.