Learn about flat and technical glass market in Jan.-Feb. 2009

The total output of flat glass in January and February was 85.37 million weight cases, dropped by 7.1% year-on-year; the output of float glass was 69.94 million weight cases, down 7%.

42 flat glassmakers shut down

In January and February, 42 scaled flat glassmakers shut down, which reduced the annual capacity at about 100 million weight cases. 9 float glass companies closed up and 42 companies lowered the production by 7.06 million weight cases, some of which reduced by more than 40%.

Sales of flat glass decreased and price collapsed

The sales-output ratio of flat glass remained the same over the same period of last year at 93.81%. However, the sales of flat glass of key companies was 58.65 million weight cases in January and February, fallen by 2.65% on year; the ending inventory was 27.21 million weight cases, reduced by 1.21 million weight cases. The average EXW price of flat glass slumped to 59.61 yuan/weight cases in February, down 11.61 yuan/weight cases, and float glass down 14 yuan/weight cases.

Drop in the output of technical glass applied across-the-broad

Affected by the falling exports and the flagging domestic market, the rapid-growth technical glass market was undergoing output woes in January and February. The output of hollow glass was 2.95 million sqm, down 36.5% on year; tempered glass 13.81 million sqm, down 21.4%; and laminated glass 3.32 million sqm, down 17.1%.

Flat glass, as the upstream industry of technical glass, was inevitably affected in its demand by the drop in output of technical glass.