PVTIME – GMB Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg GmbH (GMB), Europe’s only manufacturer of solar glass, is facing difficulties due to competition from low-cost products from China and a slump in demand, and the company has applied for short-time working for its employees.
Short-time work is a benefit provided by the German government to support companies and employees during economic downturns, with a corresponding reduction in working hours and pay.
GMB, part of the Interfloat Group, is 86% owned by Indian solar glass manufacturer Borosil Renewables from October 2022, with the remaining shares held by Blue Minds Company.
According to Borosil director Ashok Jain, speaking on the company’s Q2 FY2024 earnings call, GMB’s operations in Germany face huge challenges. Local demand is only at 40% of capacity, and while the plant has maintained high capacity utilisation through orders from the US and EU, these orders are lower priced and do not fully fill the demand gap. Jain noted that while France, Italy and Austria have taken steps to support domestic module manufacturing, Germany is still evaluating its policy. In the absence of basic customs duty (BCD) or anti-dumping protection in Germany and the EU, local market demand has been suppressed and many local downstream customers have withdrawn from the market. Jain added that the company has no intention of outsourcing production due to higher costs in Europe.
In contrast to the German market, demand for Borosil continues to grow in India. The company has announced an expansion of its production capacity from 1,000 tonnes per day to 1,500 tonnes per day, driven by the Indian finance ministry’s move to set reference prices for imports in an effort to curb cheap, dumped imports from China and Vietnam.
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