Demand for building glass in Austria shrank in 2024 for the third year in a row. As a result, sales prices have also come under pressure recently, according to current data from the market research institute BRANCHENRADAR.com Marktanalyse.

The real decline in construction output over the past few years is a growing concern for domestic manufacturers of building glass (flat glass). According to the latest BRANCHENRADAR report on building glass in Austria, manufacturer revenues in 2024 fell by 9.1 per cent year-on-year to €355.4 million. Just one year earlier, revenues had already fallen by more than seven per cent.

In addition to the ongoing weak demand for insulating and safety glass, sales prices were also under pressure in the previous year. Although the purchase prices for basic glass remained almost unchanged at the previous year’s level, the prices for insulating glass fell by an average of three per cent and for safety glass by three to five per cent year-on-year. Consequently, the price reduction noticeably eroded the margins of building glass manufacturers. Although energy was cheaper to buy than a year earlier, personnel and transport costs increased significantly.

‘The glassworks‘ announcement that they will soon be raising the prices of basic glass again is also causing concern,’ says Andreas Kreutzer, managing director of BRANCHENRADAR Markanalyse. Many manufacturers of insulating and safety glass are wondering how they can pass these cost increases on to the market without losing market share to foreign suppliers. ‘Last year alone, imports of flat glass grew by around nine million euros,’ Kreutzer points out.