High growth forecasted for China glass market

After its downturn in 2006, China glass industry turned to the better in 2007 and the relationship of supply and demand improved significantly. The prosperity of glass industry in 2007 continued in the first half of 2008, with a fast growth rate. Production capacity kept increasing but the competition became fiercer. The market has grown saturated and the grow rate slows down. It is still the main pressure of fast growing production capacity on glass market, according to an Oct. 28 Market Watch report.

 

East China, North China and Central South China are the key regions of glass production; wherein, the top 3 by glass output capacity are Hebei province, Guangdong province and Jiangsu province. The province of Hebei, ranking the first by flat glass output in 2007, still sees a rapid growth rate in 2008. Besides, glass output of Jiangsu province dropped to some extent in recent two years. In Guangdong province, float glass and high-grade float glass take high proportions and industry structure is superior to that of the other two provinces.

 

Glass price rose slightly in the first quarter of 2008, and then dropped starting from March. However, the prices of key raw materials still maintained high and the production cost further increased. This foresees the declining of this round of prosperity.