U.S. Producers

On December 31, 1970, five firms were producing sheet glass, including window glass, in 12 plants in the United States. Four of the 12 establishments were located in West Virginia, two in Oklahoma, and one each, in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Arkansas, Ohio, Illinois, and California.

One plant (located in Tennessee), which produced

only heavy sheet glass, was closed in March 1970. Employment in domestic sheet glass plants declined consistently from 1965 to 1969, as did the number of man-hours worked by production and related workers (table 6).

The U.S. sheet glass industry continued to modify its production facilities in 1970 in order to increase productivity, lower costs,

and improve product quality. The principal modifications consisted of improved methods of cutting sheet glass, but other phases of the production process were also improved. Furnace shutdowns for modifications and repairs in 1969 and 1970 idled about 10 percent of the productive capacity of the sheet glass industry.

Productive capacity of the industry changed little in the period under review. In September 1970 it was about 1 percent lower than at the end of 1969.

U.S. Production, Shipments, and

Inventories

In the first 9 months of 1970, U.S. production and shipments of sheet glass declined by about 8 percent from the levels attain to

the corresponding period of 1969.

Production and shipments in 1969 had

been higher than in 1968 by 8 percent and 5 percent, respectively, and

had been the highest since 1965 (tables 5 and 7).

U.S. producers' shipments of window glass in the first 9 months of 1970 were about 7 percent lower than in the corresponding period of 1969. Producers' shipments of window glass in 1969 were about 3 percent higher than in 1968, even though U.S. consumption of such glass declined in 1969. Window glass accounted for** percent of total U.S. shipments of sheet glass in January-September 1970, compared with percent in 1969.

**

The shipments of thin and heavy sheet glass by U.S. producers in January-September 1970 were about 11 and 20 percent, respectively, lower than in the corresponding period of 1969. Such shipments in 1969 were higher by 2 and 9 percent, respectively, than in 1968.

**

The U.S. producers' share of the total sheet glass market and the window glass market was higher in the first 9 months of 1970 ***** than in the corresponding period in 1969 The producers' share of the market for all sheet glass had increased from ** to ** percent in 1969, and their share of the window glass market had increased from ** to ** percent. For all sheet glass, this development reflected a rise of 5 percent in U.S. producers' shipments and a

decline of 17 percent in imports; for window glass there was

3-percent increase in U.S. producers' shipments and a 21-percent decline in imports.

Inventories of all sheet glass at the end of 1969 were about 31 percent above those at the end of 1968 and were equivalent to about 12 percent of U.S. production in 1969.

U.S. Exports

U.S. exports of sheet glass (mostly window glass) totaled 3.0 million pounds in the first 9 months of 1970, compared with 3.2 million pounds in the corresponding period of 1969. The exports totaled 3.9 million pounds in 1969, reflecting a decline of 42 percent from the 6.7 million pounds exported in 1968 (table 3). In 1969, exports were equal to less than 1 percent of shipments by U.S. producers.

U.S. Imports

U.S. imports of sheet glass in January-September 1970 were 26 percent below those in the comparable period of 1969 (quantity figures in table 8). Imports of window glass (i.e., glass dutiable at modified escape-action rates of duty) in the first 9 months of 1970 were 34 percent below those of the corresponding period in 1969 (quantity figures in table 9). In the first 9 months of 1970, imports supplied 25 percent of the total U.S. sheet glass market and 21 percent of the U.S. window glass market, compared with 28 percent and 26 percent, respectively, for the corresponding period in 1969.

1/ Inventories include only those of glass inspected for defects and cut to the size in which it is intended to be sold; they do not include those of glass intended to be recut before shipment.

U.S. imports of sheet glass in 1969 were 17 percent below those

in 1968, involving a 21-percent decrease in imports of window glass, a 9-percent decline in imports of heavy sheet glass, and a 12-percent decline in imports of thin sheet glass (table 5). Imports dutiable at MFN tariff rates declined 17 percent (quantity figures in table 10), and imports dutiable at full rates (applicable to countries designated as Communist) declined by 13 percent. The share of the U.S. market for window glass and all sheet glass supplied by import's declined in 1969.

Imports of window glass in 1969, which constituted more than half of sheet glass imports, were 22 percent below those of 1968 (table 9), although U.S. consumption in that year decreased by only 2 percent. In 1969, imports of window glass at MFN rates of duty were 24 percent lower than in 1968, while those at full rates of duty were 9 percent

lower.

The principal suppliers of both imported sheet glass and window glass in 1969 and 1970 were Belgium, West Germany, Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) (table 8).

Prices

The published prices of the commercially important sizes and

thicknesses of sheet glass quoted by the principal foreign and domestic suppliers were virtually unchanged during 1969 (table 11). Price

changes were made in the less important types of sheet glass.

After May 1, 1970, however, U.S. producers reduced the price

of 19-ounce window glass about 4 percent and in July 1970 the price was again reduced, by nearly 3 percent. The price of 3/16-inch heavy sheet glass was reduced in July 1970 by about 4 percent. No price reductions were made by the principal foreign suppliers. Some of these foreign suppliers announced a 10-percent price increase for sheet glass in July 1970, but they immediately postponed it when the U.S. producers did not announce similar increases. The prices of foreign glass, therefore, did not change in 1969 and 1970.

As a result of these price developments, the price differential of earlier years (2 percent on 19-ounce window glass and 5 percent on 3/16-inch heavy sheet glass) favoring foreign suppliers disappeared. On November 1, 1970, the published price of U.S.-produced window glass was 5 percent below that of the foreign glass; the price of heavy sheet glass from both sources was about the same.

According to trade sources, both U.S. and foreign sheet glass were sold in the United States in 1970 at prices that were discounted below the published prices, but information is not available on such sales. The most recent data collected by the Tariff Commission on this subject indicate that in the first half of 1969, for example, 13.5 percent of domestic producers' shipments of window glass were marketed below published prices, at discounts averaging 10.9 percent. Corresponding statistical data and sales by agents of foreign firms are not available.