Global Flat Glass Demand to Exceed 8 Billion Square Meters in 2014

World demand for flat glass is forecast to rise 6.0 percent per year through 2014 to 8.1 billion square meters.  Maintaining the trend seen over the 1999-2009 period, demand will easily outpace real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) gains in the global economy.  Gains will be driven by favorable outlooks for the two key markets for flat glass -- building construction and motor vehicles.  The global market value of fabricated flat glass is forecast to reach almost $90 billion in 2014. 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 market research firm.

Gains will be spurred by continuing robust growth in the Asia/Pacific region, as well as by recovery in the building construction and motor vehicle industries in North America and Western Europe after recessionary conditions in 2009.  In both developed and developing countries, fabricated flat glass will benefit from rapid growth in demand for more expensive products such as solar control glass, low-e glass, smart glass, self-cleaning glass and heads-up-display (HUD) windshields.  On a square meter basis, however, solar energy applications account for a very small share of global flat glass demand at less than 100 million square meters in 2009. 

China’s share of world flat glass demand in square meters will rise from 40 percent in 2009 to 43 percent in 2014.  The country’s share of world fabricated flat glass demand in value terms will stand at a less significant but still impressive 32 percent in 2014.  Basic unfabricated float glass continues to account for a disproportionate share of the overall Chinese flat glass market, but the trend is increasingly shifting in favor of using fabricated flat glass.  Other developing Asian countries such as India and Thailand will post particularly impressive gains, with growth aided by booming construction and motor vehicle sectors in both countries.

Demand in the US will post above-average gains, but this is due to the fact that domestic flat glass demand fell drastically in 2009 as a result of the country’s major economic recession (and associated downturn in building construction spending and motor vehicle output).  Demand in the mature markets of Western Europe and Japan will continue to post below-average gains through 2014.

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.