Mexican Glass Sector Shows Potential for Growth, Despite Tariffs

The Mexican float glass sector shows growth this year despite the current trade tensions with the U.S. and the current stagnation in the country’s construction sector. 

In accordance with the latest BBVA Research report “Real Estate Situation Mexico, 2H25., Mexico’s construction sector entered mid-2025 in contraction, with GDP down 1.1% year-on-year. The decline stems primarily from the civil works subsector, directly linked to a 12.6% real cut in public infrastructure spending compared to 2024.  That negatively affects the demand for float glass in the country although does not lead to the suspension of implementing key investment projects by leading local players.  

Understanding the interdependence of Mexican and U.S. glass industries

According to glass industry leaders in Mexico, the U.S.’s main exports to the country are specialized flat/float glass and coated products rather than big volumes of basic clear glass. This includes ultra-clear and low-iron substrates, solar-control and low-emissivity coated glass for high-end façades, and certain automotive grades that require very tight optical or safety tolerances. A lot of this material is then further processed in Mexico, cut, tempered, laminated or assembled into units rather than used as raw sheets.

What moves back into the United States is more volume-driven, value-added glass. Mexican plants supply large quantities of fabricated automotive glazing (tempered side and rear windows, laminated windshields, backlites, sunroof panels), along with some standard clear and tinted flat glass for construction and interior applications. In trade statistics that can show up under several headings, including float glass, tempered glass, and laminated glass but economically it is primarily finished or near-finished glazing for North American supply chains.

As a result, the high-performance glass segment inside Mexico itself is still relatively small compared with the U.S. or Europe: most local buildings use standard or mid-performance glass but Mexico participates in the high-performance market through its role in automotive and export-oriented manufacturing. It imports niche, technically demanding substrates from the U.S., and exports a larger volume of processed and fabricated glass back into the U.S. market.

Demand for high-performance glass remains low in Mexico

Marco Millet, chief marketing officer, Millet Glass Industry, one of Mexico’s largest architectural glass fabricators, says the company’s North American investment activities are accelerating.

“This year we participated in several major projects across Mexico, including Torre Antara and SOMA in Mexico City, Eden Rock and Hyatt Hotel in Cancún, Torre Diamante in Guadalajara, along with several boutique hotels in Los Cabos and Tulum, and a number of high-rise buildings in Monterrey,” he says.

Both U.S. and Canadian markets remain extremely important for the company these days, despite the existing threat of further trade war escalation with the U.S. and the possibility of new tariffs.

In order to meet the high quality and production standards required by these two markets, the company equipped its Conkal, Yucatan manufacturing plant—which opened in 2020—with advanced machinery and software. 

For its production needs, Millet Glass Industry plans to continue importing raw float glass from the U.S. In contrast to other Mexican businesses, which began to search for alternative suppliers after the introduction of tariffs by the Trump administration, Millet Glass Industry, along with other Mexican fabricators, still relies on the supplies from the U.S. 

Millet says that by purchasing float glass from the U.S., fabricating it and selling it back to the U.S., the company is able to avoid U.S. tariffs. “All of our raw materials are sourced from well-known manufacturers in the United States and Mexico,” says Millet. “None come from Asia or the Middle East, which allows us to fully comply with USMCA requirements and continue exporting without paying tariffs.”

According to Millet, Mexico is a large market, but the construction sector is primarily focused on low-cost, low-value products. 

“The absence of strict, or in many cases any, building regulations related to glass makes it difficult to increase the value of products, as there are no clear quality requirements,” he says. “Additionally, the limited purchasing power of the population reduces the overall market potential. Most high-value glass is specified only in large-scale developments, which helps partially balance demand. Another key challenge is unfair competition from low-quality glass and metalwork imported from Asia, which undermines local production standards and pricing.”

The development of the domestic Mexican market remains a priority for another leading local player–Vitro Architectural Glass. Despite the tough business environment in the country these days, the company has recently completed several investment projects in making high-performance float glass.

“Our most significant recent investment in Mexico is Coater 8, a jumbo MSVD coater commissioned in late 2023 at our Mexicali, Baja California facility,” says Fernando Diez, vice president of marketing for Vitro Architectural Glass “This strategic investment totaled $60 million and allows us to produce over 60 million square feet of coated glass annually. We were able to substantially increase operations in 2025 at Coater 8, successfully transferring production of our entire Solarban low-emissivity glass portfolio and reflective solar control MSVD products, such as Lumax and Solar Reflect, which are widely specified in the Mexico market. The launch of Coater 8 has also increased the demand for direct jobs at our Mexicali facility by 20%.”

The company expects the demand for float glass to grow in Mexico in the coming years despite the existing obstacles, which may limit a more active growth in the near term.

“Construction codes in Mexico still fall behind those in the U.S. and Europe, with monolithic glass dominating the market,” says Diez. “However, there’s a significant opportunity to expand the market by transitioning to insulated or laminated glass with advanced features like solar control and low-e coatings. This shift could nearly double the market size."

As he also added, while the federal administration in Mexico is focused on other pressing priorities, more architects and developers in Mexico are recognizing the advantages of high-performance facades. Diez believes this is because high-performance glazing not only reduces operational costs but also cuts capital expenses. High-performance glazing improves energy efficiency, allowing for smaller HVAC systems upfront and lower electricity bills over time, he says.

According to him, sustainability has also been gaining momentum in Mexico. Green building certifications are on the rise, and investment firms are increasingly prioritizing wellness and environmental impact. This growing focus creates even greater opportunities for high-performance glazing systems to play a key role in the future of construction, he says

In addition to the domestic market, the company hopes for more active expansion in the U.S. market in years to come, along with the entire North American region. 

To meet the growing demand for MSVD products in North America, including the U.S., Vitro launched two jumbo MSVD coaters in the last decade, including Coater 7 at the company’s Wichita Falls, Texas, facility in 2017 and Coater 8 in Mexicali. “These investments have allowed us to increase domestic production of Solarban glass at our Wichita Falls plant and meet the demand for high performance glass in the Western U.S. and Mexico,” Diez says. 

In addition, Vitro has made significant investments at two of its U.S. facilities located in Pennsylvania—Carlisle and Meadville—to initiate supply to the burgeoning U.S. solar panel industry. This expansion into a high-growth sector diversified the company’s portfolio within its core architectural construction markets.

Near-term struggles and long-term growth for Mexican flat glass

Like Diez, other analysts see big potential for a further growth of the Mexican float glass sector in years to come. 

Sudip Saha, a co-founder, Future Market Insights, an international industry research and consulting agency, in an exclusive interview says that Mexico’s float-glass market stands at a point of selective strength. 

“Automotive production has been a clear bright spot, with nearly four million light vehicles built in 2024, a five-percent rise year-on-year. That has kept demand for automotive glazing and float glass consistently high,” he says. “The picture is less upbeat in construction. By late 2024, the value of construction output had fallen more than twenty percent from the previous year, cutting into orders for architectural and façade glass. On the supply side, domestic producers maintained operations rather than expanding. Foreign direct investment into the glass industry was modest and largely in the form of reinvested earnings, aimed at maintaining furnace efficiency rather than adding new capacity. Mexico continues to import specialized float glass grades, particularly for automotive and high-performance architectural use, with the United States remaining its principal supplier.”

Despite the current trade tensions between Mexico and the U.S., Saha says most independent analysts and producers believe the United States is likely to remain Mexico’s dominant trade partner in float glass for structural reasons rather than sentiment. According to them, the two economies are deeply interlocked under the USMCA framework, and cross-border supply chains in automotive and building materials are tightly integrated. Nearly eighty-five percent of Mexico’s non-oil exports already go to the United States, and float glass follows that same gravitational pull.

According to experts at Future Market Insights, even when political or trade tensions rise, USMCA provisions and shared logistics corridors keep glass flows steady. The greater risks lie elsewhere: anti-dumping actions on glass imports from Asia, cyclical swings in construction demand, and short-term disruptions from energy prices or furnace maintenance. These factors affect costs and lead times more directly than any headline dispute between Washington, D.C., and Mexico City.

According to Marco Millet, most glass producers are confident the Mexican float glass sector will continue its growth in 2026 despite the existing challenges that will put a pressure on most of industry’s players. 

In spite of their belief in long-term growth, Millet says the company anticipates a challenging period in the next two years due to predicted economic contraction.
To weather this, the company’s strategy focuses on strengthening sales to small and medium-size customers, he says, while maintaining a strong presence in major cities and tourism hubs, ensuring participation in large commercial, residential, and resort developments.

Predictions from Vitro are relatively similar. Despite recent deceleration in non-residential construction , the company forecasts robust recovery in key sectors such as hospitality, health care and mixed-use developments. According to Vitro reps, these segments critically demand advanced, high-performance glazing systems that integrate both aesthetic design and functional superiority.

Analysts from Future Market Insights, however, believe maintaining strong dependence on the U.S. may become one of the weaknesses of the Mexican float glass sector in the coming years. According to them, Mexico’s float-glass sector enters 2026 with firm automotive demand, weak construction pull, and continued reliance on the United States as both supplier and customer. The relationship endures less from diplomacy than from industrial physics, two markets fused by geography, scale, and manufacturing design.