The largest demand for float glass is for fabrication into windows for dwellings and commercial structures, automobile glass products (e.g., car and truck windshields and windows), architectural products (e.g., siding panels for office towers and glass doors), and mirrors. The demand for float glass depends largely on such factors as the volume of housing starts, commercial construction, automobile production, and catastrophic storm damage. As with other homogeneous, fungible commodities, the key factors in marketing float glass are price and quality; brand names and trademark recognition are relatively unimportant to purchasers.
In 1991, United States' float glass producers shipped approximately $2.9 billion of float glass, with the four largest United States producers accounting for about 85 percent of this total.
Float glass shipments worldwide in 1991 were approximately $15 billion, with the four largest producers accounting for about two-thirds, and the nine largest producers accounting for over 95 percent, of total world shipments. Worldwide float glass demand is increasing, largely in the developing economies of Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
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