Bathroom & Kitchen Faucets

Bathroom and kitchen faucet exports from China are growing at 20% a year and may well reach US$3.5 billion by the end of 2005. This will make up 80% of total world supply.

At the same time, China manufacturers plan to improve product quality and increase the production of high-end faucets.

This report will give you profiles of 87 leading faucet suppliers in China. Use these to shortlist manufacturers to visit, or as benchmarks against which you can compare producers.

A detailed industry overview also helps you understand the changing structure of faucet manufacturing in China, so you can source the products you need most cost-effectively.

What you'll get

In-depth profiles of 15 major faucet manufacturers based on factory tours and interviews with senior managers. These provide detailed information on suppliers' product offerings, manufacturing capabilities and future plans

Short profiles of an additional 72 suppliers with key facts such as production capacities, production checklists, export ratios and major export markets

A Product Gallery featuring 126 best-selling bathroom and kitchen faucets from mainland China and Taiwan, with detailed product descriptions and color images

The results of Global Sources' latest supplier survey, forecasting price, product, production and R&D trends for the next 12 months

This report covers: faucets and mixers for lavatories, kitchens and showers, as well as showerheads and shower sets

How you'll benefit

Discover the advantages of sourcing from China's main center for faucet production in Guangdong Province

Find out how the presence of MNC faucet manufacturers in China is impacting the prices and products you are offered by local suppliers

Understand which China makers are best meeting stringent quality and water-efficiency standards required in markets such as the U.S. and E.U.

Get easy-to-use supplier rankings, by production capacity, output, sales and exports, to more easily pinpoint suppliers relevant to you

Executive summary

China exported US$2.4 billion worth of kitchen and bathroom faucets in 2003. The industry is projected to grow 20 percent annually, and exports for the first four months of 2004 alone increased 21 percent over the same period last year. More than one-third of the exports are absorbed by the United States, which imports an average US$67.3 million worth of kitchen and bathroom faucets monthly.

Production from China-owned factories is mainly low-end to midrange: around 80 percent of the world's supply of low-end to midrange kitchen and bathroom faucets comes from these makers.

Exports to high-end markets such as the United States and the European Union come mostly from large multinational corporations (MNCs) with factories in China.

Local suppliers have been quick to take advantage of the presence of these big multinationals. Manufacturing capability and product quality have improved significantly as a result of the trickling down of technology from MNCs. A number of China-owned companies are gearing up to make high-end products and have taken steps to ensure compliance with standards needed to export to western markets.

China makers, however, remain market followers instead of innovators: product development is greatly determined by OEM buyers, which generate more than 70 percent of export revenue.

Of China's 3,000 makers, 2,000 are already exporting. Large-scale factories, including MNCs, make up only 1.5 percent of the supplier base. The majority are small and midsized privately owned companies capable of producing at least 100,000 pieces monthly on average.

Like most manufacturing industries in China, production is centered in Guangdong: faucets from the province account for 57 percent of total exports. The province's Shuikou town in particular — with its more than 400 factories — exported US$109 million worth of kitchen and bathroom faucets in 2003. Export business from this location is expected to grow at an annual rate of 30 percent. This report has a section discussing the industry in Shuikou, outlining how strong logistics and government support have helped it become a powerhouse in kitchen and bathroom faucets manufacturing.

Zhejiang province — with 20 percent share of exports — is the second major production hub. Its 1,000 makers offer mostly low-end products compared with the midrange and high-end faucets of its southern rival.

The Taiwan industry faces strong competition from suppliers based in these and other mainland provinces. An overview of the faucet industry in the island and how it has not only survived, but grown despite the strong competition from mainland suppliers, is available.

Industry overview

Mainland China produces 80 percent of the low-end to midrange global supply of faucets. Growing at an annual rate of 20 percent, bathroom and kitchen faucet exports from China were worth US$2.42 billion in January to December 2003.

There are now about 3,000 manufacturers of faucets in China, 2,000 of which are capable of export — 40 percent directly and the rest through trading companies. Increasing competition, especially in the main production center of Shuikou, has triggered slow consolidation in the industry. The supplier base is expected to shrink gradually over the next few years.

Ninety percent of makers in China are small to midsize, privately owned companies, with monthly production capacities ranging from as low as 1,000 units to as high as 300,000 units. There are a few large locally owned suppliers with monthly capacities of above 1 million units. A number of multinational corporations (MNCs), such as American Standard and Kohler, Japan's Toto, and Inax Tostem and Imperial Ware of Australia have also set up base in the country.

Of the 87 companies profiled in this report, only three have monthly capacities of more than a million units. The average monthly capacity of suppliers in this report is 230,000 units, while their average monthly exports stand at 120,000 units.

Faucet production is mainly concentrated in Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Of the three, Guangdong accounts for the majority of exports with a 57 percent share. Backed by government support and a strong components sector, Shuikou town in the province's Kaiping city is a major hub for faucet production.

Faucet production in China is done mainly on an OEM basis, with buyers providing specifications for most designs. However, a number of large-scale manufacturers are striving to establish their own brands. Some have been successful, but only in low-end and midrange markets, such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Benefiting from MNC presence
More than 35 percent of faucets exported from China are shipped to North America, with another 32 percent going to the European Union. The bulk of exports to these high-end markets comes from the mainland factories of MNCs. However, there are a few locally-owned suppliers that are gradually increasing their exports to the United States and the EU by adding high-end faucets to their product ranges, and simultaneously improving their manufacturing capability and product quality.

The presence of MNC factories in China is facilitating the progress of China makers. For one, besides manufacturing at their own factories, some MNCs also subcontract to China suppliers, requiring them to enhance their production and testing processes.

Second, ex-employees of MNCs might transfer their technical and product knowledge to other China-owned suppliers they work for.

And third, China suppliers sometimes improve their own products by copying designs from MNCs.

Samples of supplier profile

Caizhou Plumbing Products Fitting Co. Ltd
One factor that has made Caizhou Plumbing one of the top five faucet makers in Shuikou town (Kaiping city, Guangdong) is the strong design background of its founder and general manager: Guo Bai Zhou started as a faucet designer for a state-owned enterprise in 1985.

The company received EN817 and EN200 approvals for its faucets in April 2004, making it the first and only maker in Kaiping with such an approval. Currently, 80 percent of output is exported to Western Europe, mainly Germany, Italy and Spain.

Products
Caizhou Plumbing offers faucets in more than 1,000 models. Kitchen faucets accounted for 30 percent of total output in 2003, lavatory faucets another 30 percent and shower faucets 20 percent. Bidet faucets make up the rest of output. Prices average US$7 to US$20 a piece for kitchen and lavatory faucets and US$10 to US$15 for shower faucets.

Faucets are usually made through casting, but the supplier also offers an upscale line of "craftsman" faucets made by welding copper tubes and machining copper sticks with tools that can machine multiple sides of faucet bodies simultaneously. Craftsman faucets, as a result, cost more than faucets made by casting.

The company has been mass-producing craftsman faucets for more than five years, and this accounts for more than 40 percent of output this year, up from 30 percent in 2003.

The R&D team of 12 mold developers and six industrial designers releases up to two new series annually, each with five models. About 5 percent of revenue is allocated to R&D.

Caizhou Plumbing sources about 70 percent of grade-B brass from the provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu while importing the rest from South Korea. Brass tubes come mainly from Jiangsu and brass sticks are from Russia. Lead content of the company's brass materials is below 1.5 percent.

Suppliers are required to provide product inspection certificates and materials undergo a second inspection by an independent testing body.

Ceramic cartridges can be imported from Italy on buyers' request, although the majority is sourced from Zhuhai Mingshi Ceramics Valves Co. Ltd.

Sample of product gallery

Kitchen faucets & mixers Apple Protech Product type: Kitchen faucet Model: RD-628 Price: . Minimum order: Negotiable Packaging type: Paper box or blister pack Delivery time: 45 days Description: Brass, stainless, white iron and aluminum materials

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