The German glass industry closed 2020 with a decline in sales. However, the various glass sectors were affected to varying degrees by the coronavirus crisis. Only packaging glass recorded a slight increase.
The Total turnover of the glass industry in Germany fell by 4.6 per cent year on year to around € 9.35 billion in 2020 (2019: € 9.81 billion), according to data from the Federal Statistical Office. Domestic and foreign sales declined in equal measure, falling by 4.0 and 5.5 per cent respectively. Despite the negative results, companies in the various glass sectors are cautiously optimistic in their business expectations.
The coronavirus crisis has negative results in almost all glass sectors in 2020. led: Manufacturers of commercial glass recorded the highest losses with a 37.8 per cent drop in sales to EUR 381 million (2019: EUR 612 million).
Container glass benefited from shift in consumption
In contrast, the container glass industry's results remained constant compared to the previous year: turnover rose by 0.4 per cent to €2.05 billion (2019: €2.04 billion). The industry benefited slightly from the Shifting the consumption of food and beverages into the domestic sphere and was thus able to compensate for losses due to the closure of catering establishments.
Production was running at full speed at the Manufacturers for pharmaceutical glass, which are making a decisive contribution to containing the pandemic by filling millions of glass containers with coronavirus vaccines.
BV-Glass-President Dr Frank Heinricht commented on the result: „Unfortunately, the glass industry closed 2020 with a decline in sales. However, the result must in the context of two lockdowns which have hit some important sales markets for glass hard. One exception is the packaging sector, where glass was once again able to position itself favourably. In view of the progressing vaccinations and the expected easing of the pandemic situation in the summer, the glass industry is cautiously optimistic about business expectations for 2021.“
[infotext icon]The Bundesverband Glasindustrie e.V. represents the economic policy interests of the glass manufacturing industry in Germany. This includes the areas of flat glass, container glass, industrial glass, glass fibres, special glass and glass processing and finishing. The industry comprises around 400 companies with around 54,000 employees. The total turnover in 2020 was around 9.4 billion euros[/infotext].Source: Bundesverband Glasindustrie e.V.
