Damage to Chilean glass factory prompts shortage, price increase

February’s massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake destroyed nearly $1 million worth of glass being held in the storage facilities of Chile’s major glass companies. 

Making matters worse, Chile’s largest glass producing plant, Lirquén, has been temporarily closed due to earthquake damage, prompting a nationwide glass shortage.

The shortage is being managed with imports from Brazil, Argentina, England and the U.S., but has been accompanied by a 30 percent price increase. International glass prices have been increasing ever since the real estate market in the U.S. began to recuperate, and those prices have now been transferred to the Chilean market, according to an April 18 report in The Santiago Times.