Image credit: Plibrico.
• In China, industrial production grew 9.9 percent in the first two months of 2013, while economists had expected an increase of 10.5 percent in the same period. Retail sales increased 12.3 percent in the period from January to February, compared to 15.2 percent in December; experts had predicted a growth of 15 percent.
• Owens Corning is to buy Chinese glass fiber busing producer Tanaka Kikinzoku (Suzhou) (TKS). TKS is a producer of glass fiber bushings and other parts that service the Chinese glass industry, and has been operating since 2006.
• Japanese group Asahi Fiber Glass has been bought by the Orix Corp., a financial services group. Asahi Fiber Glass is Japan’s first dedicated glass fiber manufacturer, established in 1956 by Asahi Glass and Owens Corning. Asahi has three business units: glass wool, building material, and construction operation. The glass wool business is its main unit and has 40 percent of the Japanese market.
• Schott is ready to start firing up its new melting tank at its Grünenplan, Germany, site following several months of construction work. The technology group invested approximately €6 million in the tank, equipped with process control technology, which will be used to manufacture premium-quality glass products, such as Opalika white flashed opal glass, Artista coloured glasses, as well as restoration glass for architecture use.
• Hasle Refractories A/S, a private limited company formed back in 1843 and former FLSmidth company, has established a subsidiary in Hyderabad, India. Hasle Refractories India Pvt Ltd. will be headed by Sumanta Mukhopadhyay, who has more than 20 years of experience from the industry. Hasle is supplying high quality low cement castables, and pre-cast lining solutions across India, Europe, Middle East, America, Asia, and Australia.