ANALYSIS: Upward trend in the national glazing industry

An analysis of the current situation and prospects of the domestic glazing industry for architectural applications, be it about glass sheet production or insulating glass unit (IGU) manufacturing, reveals that, in a similar way like the construction segment to whom is addressed, the specialized companies would have to undergo in the further interval a growth period, marked by relatively beneficial effects of post-recession economic conditions. However, the quantities coming from the glass factories which act at the national level are not accurately known, but the information available on the imports, in conjunction with data from the 100 insulating glass manufacturers, included in a list of companies compiled by Fereastra magazine specialized department, outlines an adequate picture of this field. Thus, after the supplies of float and Low-E glazing from abroad were down sequentially in the last two years, in 2014 were recorded an appreciation, which brought the importers market to an acceptable threshold both in quantity and value. The above mentioned list of companies includes comprehensible information about 100 companies specialized in the production and supply of insulating glass for the execution of thermal insulating joinery, and curtain walls. The total revenues of those enterprises reached in 2014 about 137 million euro up 5% compared to 2013, when they recorded a total turnover of 130 million euro (+ 6% over the previous 12 months). These rises occur after a period of fluctuations more or less steep in the range between 2009 and 2012, when the recorded value of 118 million euro in the first year of the recession (-28%) and 119 million euro in the next 12 months (+ 1%), followed in 2010 by a progress valued at 7%, corresponding to the amount of 128 million euro and a fall about -3% in 2012 to 123 million euro, signals the start of the return to the pre-crisis level. It should be clarified that the main 100 insulating glass manufacturers have started from a maximum of 163 million euro recorded in 2008, so - unlike other market segments of windows and facades - companies in the industry have failed to recover losses from the recession. In this regard, in order to reach a similar income, compared with referential threshold, those companies must cover a gap of 15.6%.