That dollar amount results from an average 18.3% advance for all product shippers over the five-year period starting in 2019 when shipments of glass-related commodities were worth $76.8 billion.
Year over year, the value of exported glass and glassware declined by -2.7% compared to $93.4 billion during 2022.
Made principally from silica, glass is a hardened material that is typically transparent but can also be produced in many different colors and textures. Glass-related products include architectural glass, mirrors, stained glass windows, glass tiles, eyeglasses as well as many household items such as bottles, jars and pitchers.
The 5 biggest glass exporters are mainland China, Germany, United States of America, France and Italy. Collectively, that quintet of major exporters generated over half (51.9%) of overall international sales for glass as a material plus glassware products during 2023.
Among continents, suppliers in Asia sold the highest dollar worth of exported glass and glassware during 2023 with shipments valued at $41.6 billion or 45.8% of the overall total. In second place were European exporters at 41.4% while another 10.2% of worldwide glass and glassware sales were racked up by suppliers in North America.
Smaller percentages came from Africa (1.24%), Latin America (1.21%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.1%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Main Types of Glass Exports
For research purposes, the 2-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 70 for glass and glassware. There are many subcategories, but the major types are:
- Glass containers including bottles, jars, pots, bottles (17.7% of the overall total)
- Glass fibers, glass wool and related articles (14.6%)
- Tempered and laminated safety glass (14.5%)
- Tableware, kitchenware, bathroom items, indoor glass decorations (12%)
- Glass mirrors (9.7%)
- Float glass, surface ground or polished glass (7.1%)
- Miscellaneous glass items (4.1%)
- Sheet glass (3.8%)
- Cast glass, rolled glass (3.3%)
- Insulating units of glass (2.8%)
- Glass beads, imitation pearls or precious stones (2.6%)
- Laboratory or pharmaceutical glassware (1.5%)
The above subcategories represent 93.7% of export sales for glass and glassware in 2023.
Top Glass and Glassware Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of glass and glassware during 2023.
- mainland China: US$25.6 billion (28.2% of exported glass/glassware)
- Germany: $8.4 billion (9.2%)
- United States: $6.2 billion (6.8%)
- France: $3.7 billion (4%)
- Italy: $3.3 billion (3.7%)
- Poland: $3 billion (3.3%)
- Belgium: $2.7 billion (3%)
- Japan: $2.6 billion (2.9%)
- Czech Republic: $2.42 billion (2.7%)
- Mexico: $2.38 billion (2.6%)
- Hong Kong: $1.97 billion (2.2%)
- South Korea: $1.9 billion (2.1%)
- Spain: $1.87 billion (2.1%)
- Türkiye: $1.65 billion (1.8%)
- Netherlands: $1.64 billion (1.8%)
By value, the listed 15 countries sold over three-quarters (76.3%) of global glass/glassware exported in 2023.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing glass/glassware exporters since 2022 were: Poland (up 7.3%), Belgium (up 6.5%), Germany (up 3.3%) and Italy (up 3%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported glass/glassware sales were providers in: Hong Kong (down -16.9% from 2022), Japan (down -10.1%), South Korea (down -8.2%), mainland China (down -4%) and Mexico (down -3%).
Searchable List of Glass and Glassware Exporters in 2023
In the automated database below, the 100 key nations that export glass and glassware account for 99.93% of related exports by value during 2023.
| Rank | Exporter | Glass Exports | 2022-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | mainland China | $25,580,873,000 | -4% |
| 2. | Germany | $8,384,585,000 | +3.3% |
| 3. | United States | $6,154,191,000 | +1% |
| 4. | France | $3,660,377,000 | +1.2% |
| 5. | Italy | $3,319,138,000 | +3% |
| 6. | Poland | $2,996,089,000 | +7.3% |
| 7. | Belgium | $2,732,840,000 | +6.5% |
| 8. | Japan | $2,634,147,000 | -10.1% |
| 9. | Czech Republic | $2,416,284,000 | +1.8% |
| 10. | Mexico | $2,377,626,000 | -3% |
| 11. | Hong Kong | $1,966,406,000 | -16.9% |
| 12. | South Korea | $1,895,870,000 | -8.2% |
| 13. | Spain | $1,871,274,000 | +2% |
| 14. | Türkiye | $1,651,165,000 | +1.5% |
| 15. | Netherlands | $1,635,638,000 | +1.6% |
| 16. | Malaysia | $1,570,033,000 | -15% |
| 17. | Taiwan | $1,503,367,000 | -11.7% |
| 18. | United Kingdom | $1,476,952,000 | +17.2% |
| 19. | India | $1,080,730,000 | +0.6% |
| 20. | Austria | $1,060,664,000 | +0.8% |
| 21. | Vietnam | $951,523,000 | +4% |
| 22. | Hungary | $863,474,000 | +2.2% |
| 23. | Portugal | $854,193,000 | +16.1% |
| 24. | Thailand | $840,885,000 | -6% |
| 25. | Bulgaria | $816,351,000 | +2.2% |
| 26. | Canada | $694,541,000 | -1.1% |
| 27. | Slovakia | $667,075,000 | +5% |
| 28. | Egypt | $608,565,000 | -10.4% |
| 29. | Singapore | $572,248,000 | +2.9% |
| 30. | Sweden | $461,384,000 | -4.6% |
| 31. | Switzerland | $403,732,000 | -3% |
| 32. | Croatia | $369,869,000 | +22.3% |
| 33. | Romania | $357,310,000 | -1% |
| 34. | Denmark | $353,511,000 | -2.8% |
| 35. | Indonesia | $349,411,000 | +4.2% |
| 36. | Russia | $345,053,000 | -50.4% |
| 37. | Slovenia | $325,346,000 | +15.6% |
| 38. | United Arab Emirates | $322,593,000 | -58.4% |
| 39. | Finland | $300,205,000 | +8.4% |
| 40. | Brazil | $286,428,000 | -4.1% |
| 41. | Latvia | $280,286,000 | +19.2% |
| 42. | Ireland | $248,505,000 | +24% |
| 43. | Lithuania | $229,242,000 | +3.8% |
| 44. | Luxembourg | $191,389,000 | -7.1% |
| 45. | Colombia | $183,773,000 | +7.6% |
| 46. | Estonia | $168,781,000 | +1.2% |
| 47. | Peru | $167,845,000 | +2.2% |
| 48. | Ukraine | $147,613,000 | -6.9% |
| 49. | South Africa | $130,063,000 | -1.3% |
| 50. | Serbia | $127,944,000 | -3.5% |
| 51. | Bahrain | $116,540,000 | -31.1% |
| 52. | Costa Rica | $115,500,000 | -2.5% |
| 53. | Norway | $115,202,000 | +31.6% |
| 54. | Tunisia | $112,668,000 | +50.4% |
| 55. | Belarus | $111,078,000 | -9.2% |
| 56. | Moldova | $110,365,000 | -3.9% |
| 57. | Iran | $104,409,000 | -61% |
| 58. | Australia | $102,206,000 | +11.9% |
| 59. | Chile | $98,708,000 | -10.6% |
| 60. | Greece | $95,128,000 | +33.6% |
| 61. | Saudi Arabia | $88,839,000 | -71.2% |
| 62. | Morocco | $83,170,000 | +2.9% |
| 63. | Guatemala | $81,471,000 | -15.5% |
| 64. | Philippines | $77,520,000 | -11% |
| 65. | Argentina | $67,039,000 | -13.6% |
| 66. | Tanzania | $56,817,000 | +11.9% |
| 67. | Israel | $46,859,000 | +10.3% |
| 68. | Algeria | $45,641,000 | -46.1% |
| 69. | Pakistan | $41,954,000 | -5.8% |
| 70. | North Macedonia | $41,463,000 | +20.7% |
| 71. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $37,671,000 | +10.3% |
| 72. | Sri Lanka | $31,837,000 | +12.4% |
| 73. | Kazakhstan | $29,121,000 | +35.3% |
| 74. | Oman | $26,788,000 | -54.2% |
| 75. | Kyrgyzstan | $25,395,000 | -42.5% |
| 76. | Panama | $24,064,000 | -14.2% |
| 77. | Nigeria | $23,961,000 | -18% |
| 78. | Armenia | $22,096,000 | +8.8% |
| 79. | Ecuador | $20,295,000 | -14.8% |
| 80. | Uzbekistan | $19,950,000 | -42.7% |
| 81. | New Zealand | $18,907,000 | -30.9% |
| 82. | Kenya | $18,080,000 | +7.8% |
| 83. | Angola | $17,690,000 | -9.6% |
| 84. | Azerbaijan | $15,927,000 | -14.9% |
| 85. | Syria | $15,045,000 | -14.8% |
| 86. | Trinidad/Tobago | $14,810,000 | -52.1% |
| 87. | Laos | $13,625,000 | -84.6% |
| 88. | Paraguay | $13,180,000 | -21.6% |
| 89. | Bangladesh | $12,926,000 | -28.4% |
| 90. | Albania | $8,075,000 | -0.3% |
| 91. | Malta | $7,933,000 | +40.6% |
| 92. | Ethiopia | $7,885,000 | -56.1% |
| 93. | Lebanon | $6,837,000 | -41.7% |
| 94. | Kuwait | $6,608,000 | -90.4% |
| 95. | Sierra Leone | $6,181,000 | +35.2% |
| 96. | North Korea | $6,117,000 | -9.3% |
| 97. | Dominican Republic | $5,022,000 | -35.6% |
| 98. | Curaçao | $3,542,000 | +2927.4% |
| 99. | Cambodia | $3,244,000 | +22.6% |
| 100. | Djibouti | $2,924,000 | +29140% |
Focusing our analysis on the 100 biggest exporters of glass and items made from glass, the fastest growers were Djibouti (up 29,140% from 2022), Curaçao (up 2,927%), Tunisia (up 50.4%), Malta (up 40.6%) and Kazakhstan (up 35.3%).
Leading the year-over-year decliners were Kuwait (down ¬-90.4% from 2022), Laos (down -84.6%), Saudi Arabia (down -71.2%), Iran (down -61%) then United Arab Emirates (down -58.4%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns above. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that no 2022 data was available.
Countries Earning Greatest Surpluses from Global Glass Trade
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for glass and glassware during 2023. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported glass and glassware and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- mainland China: US$19.3 billion (net export surplus down -0.7% since 2022)
- Germany: $2.1 billion (up 0.7%)
- Poland: $1.4 billion (up 15.2%)
- Czech Republic: $1.3 billion (down -0.2%)
- Malaysia: $780.5 million (down -26.2%)
- Bulgaria: $576.8 million (up 2.6%)
- Japan: $565.8 million (down -4.4%)
- Hong Kong: $544.1 million (down -24.6%)
- Egypt: $419 million (down -13.7%)
- Mexico: $391.8 million (down -13.8%)
- Belgium: $260.1 million (up 24.7%)
- Taiwan: $126.4 million (reversing a -$60.7 million deficit)
- Türkiye: $112.9 million (down -51%)
- Portugal: $107.5 million (up 518.7%)
- Hungary: $106.4 million (reversing a -$5.2 million deficit)
Mainland China generated the highest surplus in the international trade of glass and glassware. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms China’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product group.
Countries Causing Largest Deficits from Global Glass Trade
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for glass and glassware during 2023. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported glass and glassware purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$3.1 billion (net export deficit down -33.4% since 2022)
- Canada: -$2 billion (down -5.2%)
- United Kingdom: -$1.2 billion (down -15.9%)
- Vietnam: -$1.11 billion (up 42.3%)
- France: -$1.09 billion (up 41.2%)
- India: -$720.3 million (up 15.1%)
- Switzerland: -$713.4 million (down -3%)
- Spain: -$682.5 million (up 26.6%)
- Australia: -$679.1 million (down -15.6%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$651.8 million (up 27743.4%)
- South Korea: -$627.7 million (down -21.7%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$605 million (up 71.7%)
- Brazil: -$520.7 million (up 18.5%)
- Romania: -$489.6 million (up 5.7%)
- Singapore: -$488.8 million (down -36.5%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of glass and glassware. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights America’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for glass and glassware-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Glass-Related Export Companies
Below are global producers that represent established players engaged in the international trade of glass and glassware ranging from crystal glassware, glass ceramics, tempered glass and Venetian glass. Shown within parenthesis is the home country where the headquarters is located.
- AGC Inc. (Japan)
- Barovier & Toso (Italy)
- Corning Incorporated (United States)
- Duralex (France)
- Fuyao Glass Industry Group (China)
- Moser AS (Poland)
- Schott AG (Germany)
- Val Saint Lambert (Belgium)
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers are examples of companies engaged in the international trade of glass sheets. The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
- Emerge Glass India Private Ltd. (India)
- MP Ventures (United States)
- Rheix Italia SRL (Italy)
- Sun Aluminium Holdings (Hong Kong)
- Sungil Innotech (South Korea)
- Tsy Fong Glass Co. (Taiwan)
- Wakodo Co. (Japan)
- Zouping Daixi Industry And Trade Co. (China)
See also Top Sunglasses Exporters by Country, Cement Exports by Country, Top Sand Exporters by Country, Top Nickel Exporters by Country and Iron Ore Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier showroom for glass sheets. Accessed on July 16, 2024
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 16, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 16, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 16, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 16, 2024
Wikipedia, Category:Glassmaking companies by country. Accessed on July 16, 2024
Wikipedia, Glass. Accessed on July 16, 2024