Currently, demand of glass yarn is outpacing supply by 10%, and capacity expansion by industry players is unlikely to feed the strong demand this year, according to market insiders.
Industry players including Taiwan Glass and Nan Ya Plastics are both expanding glass yarn capacity, with Taiwan Glass expecting to produce 10,000 and 5,000 tons of glass yarn this year at its Kun Shan plant in China and Taiwan plant respectively. Nan Ya will output 30,000 tons of glass yarn at its Kun Shan plant. Market estimates that the two makers will allocate 80% of their glass yarn output for the printed circuit board (PCB) industry.
Nan Ya Plastics indicated that demand of glass yarn has outpaced supply by 10%, as reported in a recent article.
The tight supply of glass fabric is resulting in decreased demand for copper foil, another key component of copper clad laminate (CCL). Copper foil makers are under further price pressure due to dropping copper prices. The price of copper has decreased 18-19.4% to the current US$2,500 per ton, down from US$3,050-3,100 in March.
Glass yarn to fall short of demand by 5-10% in 2004
Supply of glass yarn, a key component of glass fabric, will fall short of demand by 5-10% this year, according to market estimates.