China Ramped Up Safety Glass Exports Threefold in Past Decade

IndexBox has just published a new report: 'World - Safety Glass - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights'. Here is a summary of the report's key findings.

China boosted safety glass supplies abroad nearly threefold in the past decade, from $1.3B to $3.0B, topping the global exporter ranking. With an average annual growth rate of +8.5% over the last decade, China emerges as the fastest-growing supplier. Germany held the leading position in global exports until 2010, but now, it remains the largest safety glass importer, along with the U.S. and Vietnam. In 2020, the global safety glass trade reduced by -6% y-o-y to 366M square meters, and China’s supplies accounted for 58% of that volume. In value terms, global trade fell to $9.5B last year, dropping by -10% y-o-y.

Global Safety Glass Exports by Country

Global safety glass exports declined to 366M square meters in 2020, which is down by -6.2% compared with the year before. Total exports indicated noticeable growth from 2010 to 2020: its volume increased at an average annual rate of +4.3% over the last decade. 

In value terms, safety glass exports reduced from $10.5B in 2019 to $9.5B (IndexBox estimates) in 2020. The total export value increased at an average annual rate of +1.5% from 2010 to 2020.

China prevails in safety glass export structure, amounting to 214M square meters, which was near 58% of total exports in 2020. Germany (29M square meters) held the second position in the ranking, followed by Poland (19M square meters). All these countries together held approx. 13% share of total exports. The following exporters - Italy (13M square meters), Turkey (11M square meters), France (8.7M square meters), the Czech Republic (8.7M square meters), Belgium (8.3M square meters), Hungary (8M square meters), the Netherlands (6.1M square meters) and Mexico (5.7M square meters) - together made up 19% of total exports.

In value terms, China ($3B) remains the largest safety glass supplier worldwide, comprising 31% of global exports. The second position in the ranking was occupied by Germany ($1B), with a 11% share of global exports. It was followed by Poland, with a 7.6% share.

From 2010 to 2020, the average annual rate of growth in terms of value in China totaled +8.5%. The remaining exporting countries recorded the following average annual rates of exports growth: Germany (+0.2% per year) and Poland (+4.3% per year).

The average safety glass export price stood at $26 per square meter in 2020, with a decrease of -3.4% against the previous year. There were significant differences in the average prices amongst the major exporting countries. In 2020, the country with the highest price was the Czech Republic ($46 per square meter), while China ($14 per square meter) was amongst the lowest. From 2010 to 2020, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by Mexico, while the other global leaders experienced mixed trends in the export price figures.

World’s Largest Safety Glass Importers

In 2020, Viet Nam (33M square meters), Germany (31M square meters), the U.S. (30M square meters), South Korea (24M square meters), Thailand (21M square meters), France (17M square meters), Belgium (12M square meters), the Netherlands (10M square meters), Italy (8.9M square meters), the UK (8.3M square meters), Taiwan (Chinese) (7.7M square meters) and Spain (7.1M square meters) was the main importer of safety glass in the world, comprising 65% of total import. Poland (6.4M square meters) followed a long way behind the leaders.

In value terms, the largest safety glass importing markets worldwide were Germany ($1.1B), the U.S. ($955M) and Viet Nam ($738M), together comprising 29% of global imports.

Source: IndexBox Platform