Heavily subsidized Chinese glass industry hurting U.S. manufacturers, report says

The Economic Policy Institute, Washington, D.C., in conjunction with Dr. Usha Haley of Harvard University, released a report, "Through China’s Looking Glass: Subsidies to the Chinese Glass Industry from 2004-2008," Oct. 8.Specific findings include:

Since 2003, glass production in China has more than doubled. Concurrently, production capacity in China has doubled since 2003 and increased more than three-fold since 2000.China has become the largest exporter of flat glass and glass fiber in the world. In 2008, it contributed more than 31 percent of global glass production. The Chinese glass industry experienced a three-fold increase in exports to the United States from 2000 to 2008; correspondingly, the U.S. trade deficit with China on glass also tripled in the same period.China’s glass and glass-products industry received at least $30.3 billion in subsidies from 2004 to 2008, and China's flat glass sector received approximately $4.8 billion during that same period.

"Until this subsidy problem is addressed andfair competition can be restored, U.S. glass manufacturers will face continuing pressures to downsize or close plants," saidRobert Scott, senior international economist, EPI, in a release.

"Our domestic glass industry is the most efficient in the world, but it cannot compete against production that is heavily subsidized by the Chinese government,"echoed Scott Paul, executive director, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Washington, D.C., in an email. "As a result, glass production in the U.S. has suffered in recent years, with plant closings and thousands of lost jobs throughout the country."

The full report is available here.

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