Actual demand is weak, and floating glass is hard to say that it will improve (3.21 Float Glass Weekly Review)

The actual demand is weak, and it is hard to say that floating glass will improve

1. Analysis of the float glass market

This week, the focus of transactions in the float glass market continued to move downward, with floating glass market prices in various regions falling by 12-140 yuan/ton. Profits of floating glass declined during the week. Among them, the weekly profits of floating glass fueled by natural gas, coal-to-gas and petroleum coke all declined. Weekly output increased slightly in terms of supply. In terms of demand, downstream deep processing performance in many places was poor, and procurement was mainly needed. Refinery shipments were under great pressure, inventories were exhausted, and market prices were generally lowered. In addition, data shows that from January to February 2024, the newly started area dropped by 29.7%, the completed area dropped by 20.2%, and the real estate sales area dropped by 20.5%. Real estate data showed a weakening trend, and demand performance was not optimistic.

In terms of futures, the overall glass week was dominated by low shocks. Glass supply remained high and stable during the week, and demand was still dominated by inventory transfers. Data on resumption of work after the end of the year was still weak year-on-year, and the actual demand turning point needs further verification. At present, futures prices are discounted or the basis is revised downwards from spot, and in the short term, they may continue to be weak and volatile waiting for terminal demand to be transmitted.

2. Comparison of float glass market prices

3. Float glass inventory

The total inventory of float glass manufacturers this week was 63.614 million heavy boxes, compared with 62.783 million heavy boxes last week, an increase of 831,000 heavy boxes from last week, or 1.32%. Floating glass inventories continued to grow.

4. Weekly operating rate of float glass

The operating rate of float glass companies this week is not much different from last week. The weekly operating rate of float glass was 85.2%, an increase of 0.05%.

5. Weekly float glass output

This week, there were 304 float glass production lines, of which 259 were in production. The float glass output was 1.2303 million tons, an increase of 0.97 million tons or 0.79% from last week.