$180+ Billion Flat Glass Market - Global Forecast to 2024

DUBLIN, Aug. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/--The "Flat Glass Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2019 - 2024)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The flat glass market was valued at USD 108.51 billion in 2018, and is expected to reach a value of USD 180.79 billion by 2024 at a CAGR of 9.33%, over the forecast period 2019-2024.

Insulated flat glass is witnessing increasing deployment as it reduces pollution, saves energy, and improves the comfort inside the building. The enhanced properties of acoustic insulation and thermal insulation provided by these products are expected to drive the demand.

Factors like increasing urbanization, rise in the real estate sector, usage of solar products, and product innovation, in terms of characteristics, are further driving the growth of the market.

The growing solar energy market, due to increasing dependency on renewable energy sources, along with the subsidies available for energy storage, is to propel the growth of the market, thus, accelerating the glass demand in the market.

As there are only a few products that are involved in the production of flat glass, they cannot be substituted by others. However, fluctuating raw material prices, coupled with weak supply chain management, have a considerable effect on the overall price of flat glass products, challenging the market growth.

Scope of the Report

Flat glass is produced in plane form and has significant applications in transparent walls, windscreens, windows and doors for the construction industry and as windshield & windows in the automotive industry. It has a lower concentration of calcium oxide, silica and aluminium oxide. Fundamental properties include transparency and recyclability which makes the end-product suitable for packaging applications

Key Market Trends

Automotive Industry to Drive the Demand for Flat Glass

Flat glass has two major routes for application in the automotive industry, which are original equipment (OE), supplied to manufacturers for new vehicles and automotive glass replacement (AGR) product, supplied to the aftermarket for retrofit purposes, and damages.

According to OICA, 91.54 million commercial & passenger vehicles were produced worldwide in 2018. Increasing vehicle penetration due to the growing spending power of consumers accelerated the flat glass market.

Additionally, the significant growth in luxury cars that include double-thick glass in interiors is also one of the factors driving the sales of automotive flat glass market.

Moreover, increased spending by major automobile players is also driving the market. For instance, Ford is planning to double its EV spending which has led to the total investment in EVs to USD 90 billion.

Asia-Pacific to be the Fastest Growing Market

Owing to the presence of emerging nations such as India, China, South Korea, among others the Asia Pacific region is to become the fastest growing sector in the flat glass market.

Moreover, international vendors are shifting their manufacturing base to Asia Pacific region. This can be due to the availability of cheap unskilled and skilled workers in the region.

Rapid industrialization & urbanization in India, China and other countries in the Asia Pacific region, combined with the adoption of smart & energy efficient technology as advanced construction practice have a positive influence on flat glass demand.

Increased application in automotive manufacturers such as window & windshield in countries such as India, China will also drive the market. For instance, in India, according to IBEF,24.97 million vehicles are sold in the year 2018.

Competitive Landscape

The flat glass market is highly consolidated with the top four players constituting more than half the market share. Dynamic shifts in the product standards, like lightweight, and non-fragile nature are driving the flat glass manufacturers to incorporate the latest technological innovative methods. 

Some of the key players include Saint Gobain Corporation, Schott AG, Euro glass SPA, Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd, Asahi Glass Group, PPG Industires Inc., among others.

April 2019 - PPG completed the acquisition of automotive coatings manufacturer Hemmelrath. Hemmelrath is a manufacturer of coatings for automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Hemmelrath supplies automotive plants worldwide, and more than 7 million vehicles are coated with its products each year.

January 2019 - Saint Gobain increased its flat glass production capacity in Columbia. It also announced that Tecnoglass has taken a minority share in the capital of its Colombian subsidiary Vidrio Andino. Within the framework of this partnership, Vidrio Andino will build a new float in Colombia to meet the growing demand for glass in this region.