Glass Exports from China on Rise

Export of glass products from China has increased by 27.49 percent for the first half of the year, according to reports from China Knowledge. In the United States, an average of 131,036,348 units of laminated safety glass for vehicular use have been imported from April 2007 through August 2007 of this year, and on average, 13,284,517 of these per month have been from China—for an average of 10.1 percent of the total imports for laminated safety glass for vehicular use, according to data from USA Trade Online. From April to August, imports from China increased from 10,136,320 units to 13,239,808 units—a 30.6-percent increase (see chart below).

For safety glass (tempered or laminated), an average of 59,014,032 units have been imported from April 2007 through August 2007 of this year, and on average, 200,057 of these per month have been from China—for an average of .3 percent of the total imports for safety glass (tempered or laminated), according to USA Trade Online. From April to August, imports from China increased from 59,186,380 units to 61,449,799 units—a 3.82-percent increase (see chart below). (Editor's note: USA Trade Online does not provide import/export numbers for tempered glass parts for vehicles, specifically.)

While the numbers show that the use of glass from China is increasing in the United States, some distributors, such as AG Distributors in Boise, Idaho, have shied away from importing glass from China in recent years.

"About five years ago, we changed the model of our company and we did everything we could to distance ourselves from Chinese glass," says Steve Theisen, a managing partner with the company. "We now focus on a higher-end primarily domestic product."

He says at one time the company actually imported a good deal of glass from China—but saw a major increase in issues with the glass, particularly for tempered parts.

"Back in the day when I was buying a lot of [glass from China], probably more than 50 percent of the tempered was problematic. You name it, it was wrong," he says. "[There were] slight distortions in the glass, [it was] cut wrong, drilled wrong, marked one side when it was really the other side. It got to the point whenever we'd pull one off the shelf, we were scared to death to ship it."

Causing even more issues with this was the fact that the company wouldn't know if there was a problem with the glass until one of the shops it services tried to install it.

"There was no way for us to know if it was bent wrong or cut wrong until the customer told us, so the majority of the glass we brought ended up in a dumpster," he says. "It becomes expensive, not only in a monetary way, but you might lose a customer."

Despite the issues Theisen encountered when importing glass from China, many still import—as is seen in the aforementioned numbers.

Dale Dues, a representative for Discount Auto Glass in Little Rock, Ark., says he continues to import and hasn't had any problems out of the ordinary with glass from China

"Do I ever get a bad glass? Yes, but that happens with everyone," he says.

Discount has been in the business and has been importing glass from China since 1999.

Imports of Laminated Safety Glass for Vehicles, Aircrafts, Etc.

Source: USA Trade Online

Imports of Safety, Glass of Tempered or Laminated Glass

Source: USA Trade Online

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