What’s up with glass?
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Since February 24, 2022, everything that goes wrong is the fault of the war in Ukraine, indeed, of the invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s Russia.
In some ways this is the case, but the war has highlighted some crises that had already begun, such as the increase in the prices of energy and raw materials.
The pandemic in 2020 stopped both production and consumption, while a kind of recovery began in the second half of 2021. However, the increase in demand was not adequately supported by production, which in many sectors took some time to reopen its lines, and above all had to cope with much higher demands than normal.
This resulted in an increase in prices which involved all supply chains and all stakeholders, from producers to transporters and finally to those who had to transform the raw material into finished or semi-finished products.
Signs were already there in 2020
The scarcity of glass has been increasing since 2021, causing problems in numerous sectors. Due to the pandemic, various factories and manufacturers have had to stop or slow down the production of glass, making it extremely difficult to meet the current demands. Getting back after being closed or with production at a minimum for so long can be extremely difficult, especially considering that still in 2021 the work capacity had not returned to the usual levels, in terms of human resources. The largest glass producer resides in China, and zero-Covid policies risk stopping every plant, every factory, every workplace for at least a month.
The work of unloading containers in ports has also suffered significant slowdowns. In September 2021 there were queues of 88 container ships waiting to be unloaded at the port of Los Angeles, when in the same period there was a maximum of 1 container ship waiting.
What the glass is?
The world of glass production is certainly complex, like all productions; the raw material is basically silicon dioxide, germanium, arsenic sulfide and something else. This Wikipedia link will give you the basic information, while on the Assovetro website (an Italian glass producers association) you can read the main steps for the production.
