- Verallia has decided to accelerate its development in Brazil with construction of a €70 million greenfield plant in the northeast of the country. The project will be located in Estancia in the state of Sergipe, with strong support from state government. Verallia has signed a tentative partnership agreement with Ipiaram Empreendimentos e Participações, a Brazilian company based in Sergipe, that should be finialized by the end of the year. The plant, which will produce glass bottles and jars for the food and beverage industries, is expected to begin production in 2015.
- (Glass International) China’s Fuyao Glass Industry Group has started production at its €300 million plant in Kaluga, Russia. Capacity of the first line is 1 million sets of automotive glass a year and is set to triple over the next two years; about two-thirds of the glass Fuyao produces in Russia will be distributed to Europe, with the remaining third sold domestically. The company’s main customer in Russia is the Volkswagen (VW) group, which also has a plant in Kaluga. Fuyao is the world’s second largest automotive glass manufacturer after Japan’s Asahi Glass Co.
- World crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 130 million metric tons in August 2013, an increase of 5.2% compared to August 2012. China’s was by far the world’s largest producer; its August 2013 production of 66.3 metric tons represented a 12.8% increase compared to August 2012. Crude steel capacity utilization in August 2013 was 75.4%, 1 percentage point higher than August 2012 but 1.4% lower than July 2013.
Author
P. Carlo Ratto
CTT Categories
- Glass
- Refractories