Since the early 90s, Vietnam's construction glass industry has experienced a strong growth with an average rate of 10-15%/year. Besides, enterprises in the industry have also made great efforts to minimize production costs, but still ensure product quality to meet most domestic and foreign standards.
Some experts believe that the construction glass market in Vietnam is currently very diverse and rich in type, size, price, and place of manufacture.
Specifically, the most commonly used types of glass on the market are white glass, tinted glass, reflective glass, solar control glass, low-e glass, etc. The reason is that construction glass is a material with many outstanding features such as transparency, allowing light to pass through but preventing harmful rays, creating a modern look for the building but still maintaning high durability and reasonable price.
“The demand for high-quality materials, especially products after glass, has increased in construction and interior decoration. Many domestic enterprises operating in this field have achieved great success and are aiming for the export market", a representative of the Vietnam Glass and Glass Association shared.
According to the Vietnam Glass and Glass Association, the production technology is similar, even many factories of domestic enterprises have much more advanced technology than foreign ones.
“Our domestic enterprises are now very strong in financial conditions, investment decisions and technology, so our glass products have great development opportunities. Not to mention, we have very large and rich natural resources that can be exploited to turn into high-quality products for export to countries around the world." said Le Van Tho, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Glass and Glass Association.
Potential risk of oversupply
Many enterprises inside and outside the construction industry have invested in glass production lines with modern technology. The construction glass industry has ensured enough quantity, quality and type for domestic consumption demand and has exported 15% of glass output to countries in the region.
However, the construction glass industry is also facing many difficulties. For example, many production lines havebeen stopped, thousands of workers have quit their jobs, and a third of glass production is in stock. The excess production of construction glass is about 80 million m². Specifically, the production of construction glass in 2020 reached about 280 million m², but the consumption of flat glass was only about 200 million m². Currently, some glass manufacturing enterprises have had to suspend production on some lines.
Vietnam Floating Glass Company (VFG), a joint venture between Construction Glass and Ceramics Corporation (Viglacera) with Japan, employing more than 400 workers, is one of the prominent units in the construction glass industry. At its peak, the company had a capacity of 30 million m2 of standard glass (QTC), most of which was for export. However, currently there are 7 million m2 of glass in stock, and the factory line is only running 50% of its designed capacity.
Viglacera Dap Cau Glass Joint Stock Company is in a similar situation. The company's Deputy General Director said that the inventory was too much, leading to the fact that more than half of the company's employees had to quit and change jobs. The company has stopped a glass production furnace with a capacity of 120 tons/day, and opened more glass wall installation services for construction projects to create jobs for workers. However, there are still two million m2 of glass worth 50 billion VND in stock.
While businesses are looking for ways to consume products, the market is flooded with foreign glasses of all kinds. According to data reported by the Customs, from the beginning of the year, on average, about two million m2 of glassis imported each month. With prices always lower than domestically produced glass, foreign glasses are competing for the market with domestic ones.
Glass is a special commodity, without expertise, it is difficult to distinguish quality control. Taking advantage of this loophole, many businesses put low-quality, low-cost glasses into production under the labels of high-quality goods, causing damage to genuine glass manufacturers. The inspection stage of glass products through technical barriers has not been controlled by a quality management agency.
Source: baodautu, kientruc.vn
Compiled by VietnamCredit
