Global demand for fabricated flat glass is expected to rise by 6.6% next year to nearly 10 billion square metres, according to the World Flat Glass report from Freedonia Group.

Demand for fabricated flat glass has steadily grown over the past ten years; in 2008 demand stood at $53.3 billion (£42.4 billion), rising to $72 billion (£57.3 billion) in 2013.

Architectural flat glass accounted for $22.5 billion of the market in 2008 and $29.5 billion in 2013.

Demand for flat glass is being driven by growth in leading architectural markets and increased demand for high-performance glass products. Products such as ESG’s next generation range of LCD privacy glass and controllers; as technology becomes an integral part of building design ESG has seen demand for Controllable glass grow significantly in the last year.

Other factors contributing to increased demand for flat glass are new stringent standards and regulation requirements enforced for energy efficiency, evolving design trends in the home and workplace and a rise in security concerns; ESG offers a full line of security glass to meet all architectural specifications, products are extensively tested and fabricated to meet or exceed industry tolerances.

The market value of fabricated glass is forecast to rise 7.3% per year to $102.3 billion with architectural fabricated glass reaching $42.7 billion by 2018, according to the report.

The fastest single global market growth will occur in China, with demand for fabricated flat glass forecast to increase by 75% in 2018 to $38 billion and 59.5% in 2023 to $60.6 billion.

In 2018 demand is expected to increase by 19.6% in Western Europe from $13.8 billion to $16.5 billion and by 14.5% in 2023 to $18.9 billion. In North America demand is forecast to grow from $13 billion in 2013 to $17.1 billion in 2018, and then by a further 17.5% to reach $20.8 billion in 2023, the report states.

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