China's first batch¹ of steel wires for making 2.3-mm ballpoint pen tips recently rolled off the production line of Taiyuan Iron And Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. (TISCO), marking a breakthrough in the domestic production of stainless² steel balls for ballpoint pens.

近日，中国首批用于制作2.3毫米圆珠笔头的钢线从太原钢铁公司的生产线下线，这标志着国内圆珠笔不锈钢珠生产的突破。

China, a country that produces 40 million pens each year and has more than 3,000 pen manufacturers, has long relied on imported core technologies — both for the stainless steel ball and its casing — from Japan, Germany and Switzerland.

中国拥有3000多家造笔厂、每年生产4000万支笔，但是却长期依赖从日本、德国和瑞士进口的核心科技--不锈钢珠和钢珠外的钢壳。

In the past, China has spent 120 million RMB ($17.3 million) annually³ on such materials.

过去，中国每年要花费1.2亿人民币（约合1730万美元）在这些材料上。

Both the machines and raw materials needed to produce ballpoint pens require precise technology, which has challenged the industry for years.

无论是制造圆珠笔需要的机器还是原材料，都要求精确的技术，多年来这一直是摆在这一行业面前的难题。

According to Wang Jinhui, a senior engineer at TISCO, such manufacturing techniques were a core secret in the success of foreign manufacturing enterprises. As a result, China had to develop its own original technology without any guide.

据太原钢铁公司一名名叫王金辉的高级工程师表示，这类制造技术是外国制造企业成功的核心秘密。因此，中国不得不在没有指导的情况下发展自己的原创技术。

Fortunately, after five years of trial and error, the development program, which started in 2011, finally achieved success.

幸运的是，经过五年的实验和多次失败之后，这一始于2011年的开发项目最终取得了成功。

The new product is currently being tested at the laborotary of BEIFA, a large stationary⁴ production group in China.

这项新产品目前正在中国一家大型固定生产组BEIFA的实验室里进行测试。

A number of enterprises have already adopted the new technology from TISCO, and it is expected to replace imported ballpoint pen tips in the next two years.

一大批企业已经从太原钢铁公司那里采用了这项新技术，有望在未来两年内代替进口圆珠笔头。