Guan, Hebei — inland tackle cluster
Direct answer
Guan County in Langfang, Hebei is a source for rods, accessories and volume OEM tackle at a lower cost base than the Shandong coast. Every record here passes the same 4 verification gates and is re-checked on a 90-day cycle. Inland labour and land cost less, but cargo travels further to a port and component supply is thinner, so unit price and landed cost diverge. It is a cost-led choice for known specifications, not for hardware-sensitive rod programmes.
Key facts
- Strongest where the specification is not hardware-sensitive.
- Ask where guides, reel seats and hooks come from and how they are stocked before accepting a lead time.
- A production-line sample matters more here than in a mature cluster.
Guan County sits inland in Hebei, part of the province's tackle manufacturing base. For buyers, its interest is cost structure and production flexibility rather than port access.
What is Guan good at making?
- Rods — blank production, assembly and finishing for private-label programmes.
- Lures and accessories — moulding and assembly where volume programmes reward a lower cost base.
- Volume OEM work — programmes where unit cost matters more than shipping speed.
What should I verify before committing?
- Component sourcing — ask where guides, reel seats and hooks come from and how they are stocked. An inland factory that has to wait on components cannot hold a lead time.
- Production sample, not a showroom sample — hand-built showroom pieces hide assembly problems.
- Landed cost at the same Incoterm — an inland EXW price is not comparable with a coastal FOB price until both include inland freight and export handling.
- Colourway control — ask for a physical or measured reference and the tolerance the factory will hold across repeat orders.
We publish no cluster-level capacity statistics we cannot source. Where a number is not verified, this page says nothing rather than something approximate.
Which Guan suppliers are verified?
No verified suppliers listed yet. Factories appear here only after passing four-way verification (business registration, main business, export records, direct interview). Records that fail the bar are excluded by the build, not hidden by hand.
Guan against the other two clusters
| Cluster | What it makes | Why buyers pick it |
|---|---|---|
| Weihai, Shandong | Rods, hard lures and metal jigs | The rod capital —industry reporting credits the city with roughly 60% of global fishing rod output |
| Guan, Hebei | Rods and accessories | Lower cost base at volume |
| Xianxian, Hebei | Lures and value rods | Newer supply chain, useful as an independent price reference |
How do you compare Guan with the other two clusters?
- Start from the product, not the cluster: rods and accessories are Guan's base, so a lure programme may belong in Xianxian instead.
- Ask for the band, not a single price —the reference range for the sub-category is the frame the quote has to fit.
- Check the export markets on the record: a factory shipping to your market has already cleared its compliance route once.
- Compare lead time, not only price: a lower unit price with a longer repeat lead time costs you a season.
- Re-run the 4 verification gates on any Guan factory that is new to you, whatever its size.
What are the reference bands for these products?
| Sub-category | Sample size | Reference price band (US$ / unit) | Median low | MOQ band (pcs) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fishhook | 9 | 0.07 – 2.40 / piece | 0.65 | 100 – 2,000 | Fishing Accessories |
| Spoon & Spinner | 6 | 0.31 – 6.00 / piece | 1.25 | 50 – 500 | Fishing Lures |
| Other Hard Lure | 6 | 0.56 – 12.04 / piece | 2.95 | 20 – 500 | Fishing Lures |
| Soft Lure | 6 | 0.20 – 3.85 / piece | 1.55 | 50 – 1,000 | Fishing Lures |
| Hard Lure | 6 | 1.85 – 3.20 / piece | 2.60 | 100 – 100 | Fishing Lures |
| VIB | 6 | 0.24 – 2.50 / piece | 1.39 | 100 – 500 | Fishing Lures |
| Minnow | 6 | 0.37 – 3.17 / piece | 1.40 | 50 – 500 | Fishing Lures |
| Metal Jig | 5 | 0.97 – 2.01 / piece | 1.39 | 100 – 200 | Fishing Lures |
| Fishing Rod | 3 | 9.15 – 132.55 / piece | 28.05 | 20 – 100 | Fishing Rods |
| Crankbait | 3 | 0.30 – 0.85 / piece | 0.66 | 200 – 500 | Fishing Lures |
| Octopus Skirt | 3 | 0.08 – 2.80 / piece | 0.98 | 100 – 2,000 | Fishing Lures |
| Fishing Accessory | 3 | 0.62 – 60.00 / pack | 9.62 | 5 – 200 | Fishing Accessories |
What has to be locked in the specification?
| Family | Decides the quotation | The usual failure mode |
|---|---|---|
| Soft lures | Body length (mm) and weight (g), plasticiser feel, salt or scent loading, colourway reference, rigged or unrigged, hook or jig head by name | Colour drift between batches; plasticiser feel changing in warm climates |
| Hard lures | Body material (ABS, PC), buoyancy class (floating, suspending, sinking), diving depth, rattle specification, split ring and treble by size and finish | Hardware substitution; buoyancy drifting after a mould change |
| Metal jigs | Weight class (g), plating or finish, through-wire construction, assist hooks and cord, painted or foil finish | Finish durability and corrosion; plating thickness not stated |
| Rods | Length and sections, blank material, power (UL–XH) and action (fast, moderate), line weight (lb), lure weight (g/oz), guide and reel seat by name, grip material | Showroom sample differs from production; guides and reel seats substituted |
| Reels | Size class (1000–14000), gear ratio, bearing count, maximum drag, spool capacity, body material | Drag figures quoted from a sample that is not the production build |
| Line | Material (nylon, fluorocarbon, PE), test strength, diameter, spool length, colour | Diameter tolerance and spooling consistency; breaking strain below claim |
| Terminal tackle | Hook size and wire gauge, point style, coating (tin, nickel, black nickel), barbed or barbless; swivel and snap load ratings | Tolerances on small metal parts; coating hardness |
Three items sit outside the product itself and change the programme as much as the product does:
- Colourway reference — a physical or measured reference, not a screen colour. State the tolerance you will accept.
- Packaging — bulk, polybag, header card or blister. Packaging moves the MOQ and the lead time more than the lure does.
- Sample approval — agree a documented approval step against a production-line sample before mass production. This is the single cheapest risk control in a tackle programme.
What about HS codes and market compliance?
| Family | Usual HS heading | EU | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fishing rods | 9507.10 | REACH for coatings and grips; packaging rules | Proposition 65 warning assessment |
| Fish-hooks | 9507.20 | REACH for coatings | Proposition 65 for metal finishes |
| Fishing reels | 9507.30 | REACH for plastics and lubricants | Proposition 65 assessment |
| Lures and other line tackle | 9507.40 | REACH for soft plastics, paints and metals; phthalate limits | Lead and phthalate limits; additional testing if marketed to children |
| Fishing line | Often outside 9507 — confirm by material | Depends on filament classification | Depends on filament classification |
This table is a starting point for the compliance conversation, not customs advice. Ask your broker to confirm the code and your importer to confirm the testing requirement for the destination market — and ask the factory for the test report rather than a statement of compliance.
Frequently asked questions
Why compare an inland cluster against a coastal one?
The two often differ less on unit price than on total landed cost and on how quickly component changes can be made. Inland labour and land cost less, but cargo travels further to a port. Compare at the same Incoterm, or you are comparing two different scopes.
What should an inland factory prove before you rely on it?
That hardware and component supply is genuinely local or properly stocked, and that the production sample comes from the line that will run your order. Rod programmes are hardware-sensitive, so component substitution is the main risk on any programme.
Sources
- Our own cluster profile, compiled from public reporting including Hebei News Network; this page states no capacity figure we have not verified
- China's tackle industry dominates the world (China Times News Network feature, 2025-01-06, Chinese-language); background on the overall size of the Chinese tackle industry
- UN Comtrade — China export statistics under HS 9507, 2023-2024 (retrieved from the official API)
- China Customs (GACC) — the authority behind export records
- Harmonized System heading 9507 (rods, hooks, reels, lures) — US HTS lookup
- ISO standards catalogue — quality and testing frameworks
- US consumer product safety requirements — CPSC
Need a specification matched, not a list browsed?
Send the format, quantity, material and destination market. We answer against verified records — and tell you when the data is not good enough to answer with.
Last reviewed: 2026-09-12 · build 2026-09-17-p5jpv