Global Flat Glass Demand to Reach $73 Billion in 2012

The market value of fabricated glass (basic flat glass as well as value-added products such as laminated, tempered, insulating and mirrored glass) is forecast to reach $73 billion in 2012. World demand for flat glass is forecast to rise 5.5 percent per year through 2012 to 6.9 billion square meters.  Maintaining the trend seen over the 2002-2007 period, demand will outpace real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) gains in the global economy.  Gains will be spurred by a healthy building construction environment and rapid growth in newer technologies such as smart glass, self-cleaning windows and head-up display (HUD) windshields.  These and other trends, including market share and product segmentation, are presented in World Flat Glass, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm. 

Developing countries in Asia will register the strongest gains in flat glass demand through 2012, with growth especially strong in China and India.  China’s share of world flat glass demand in square meters will rise from under 35 percent in 2007 to 40 percent in 2012.  However, the country’s share of world fabricated flat glass demand in value will stand at a much less significant 19 percent in 2012.  Basic unfabricated float glass continues to account for a disproportionate share of the overall Chinese flat glass market due to the frenetic pace of building construction activity taking place in the country, often necessitating the utilization of the cheapest materials available.  The other developing countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Africa/Mideast region will also have strong growth, led by the other BRIC countries of Russia and Brazil.  The developed US, Japanese and West European markets will all see slower growth in their markets through 2012.

As a result of a healthy global building construction environment, demand in the larger construction segment will register gains of 6.3 percent per year through 2012 to $30 billion.  In addition, the market for architectural glass will benefit from the greater use of value-added glazing products, both in new structures and during major renovation and refurbishment activities.  Chief among these materials are more expensive double-glazed insulating glass units (IGUs) that provide improved energy efficiency and have become increasingly popular in developed countries.  Sales of new generations of security and fire-rated glass, self-cleaning glass, and smart windows that promise unprecedented control and energy savings will also accelerate through 2012. 

The Freedonia Group is a leading international business research company, founded in 1985, that publishes more than 100 industry research studies annually. This industry analysis provides an unbiased outlook and a reliable assessment of an industry and includes product segmentation and demand forecasts, industry trends, demand history, threats and opportunities, competitive strategies, market share determinations and company profiles.