Glass sector to grow by 8% to 10% in 2015

The local glass industry expects to expand 8 percent to 10 percent in 2015 due to the rising demand created by the current construction boom.

The Flat Glass Alliance of the Philippines Inc. said the glass industry would contribute at least 10 percent of the growth in the construction sector.

“We expect to grow in sync with the growth of the realty sector but we need to improve the capacity of local processors, to modernize the equipment needed to process raw glass,” Alliance executive director Ronilo Matas said during a pre-event briefing Tuesday for the Glasstech Asia 2014 conference held in Makati City.

He said the construction boom was reflected by the increasing number of  permits to 32,729 in the second quarter of 2014 from 29,424 year-on-year.

The $80-million glass industry is comprised of tempered glass manufacturers, cutters and flat processors.

About 55 percent of glass products available in the market are produced locally while 45 percent are imported mostly from China.

Matas said the local industry faced the challenge of bringing in the technology to produce energy-sufficiency glass panels—the growing trend used by construction companies in designing green buildings for industrialized and emerging economies.

“What we have right now is the technology to process raw glass, temper them, create different types of glasses like glazed and double glazed but we still lack the technology to manufacture energy-sufficiency glass,” he said.