Country profile: Pakistan
The upward curve of the glass industry in Pakistan
Pakistan has performed better than its peers in the region on multiple fronts in the last 12 months. The country didn’t suffer as much as some of the other countries in the region due to Covid-19. Glass International presents an overview of the container and flat glass in the country.
www.glass-international.com
C
omprising of five major glass producers (three container glass and two float glass producers) the Pakistani glass industry has posted more than average growth rates in the last four years. However, despite the mammoth size of the country’s population (estimated at 220 million at the end of 2020), glass industry in the country has not been able to achieve a higher scale of capacity and output. Per capita consumption of container and flat glass in the country is low compared to other countries in the region. Total installed capacity of glass containers is about 1,200 tonnes per day. For flat glass the installed capacity is 2,050 tonnes per day. Out of the 1,200 tonnes container glass capacity, nearly 30% is not operational as one of the container glass’s (Balochistan Glass) two production units
are currently not operational. Non-alcoholic beverages, food and pharma packaging dominate the container glass consumption in the country. Alcoholic beverages account for a mere 7% of container glass consumption in Pakistan. Demand of container glass for the alcoholic beverage subsegment is met by the glass division of Murree Brewery (Murree Glass). There has not been any major investment in the container glass sub-segment in recent years due to subdued demand. Import of container and flat glass from China and Iran has also been a major obstacle for the growth of domestic glass industry. Both the countries export about 20% of the total glass demand in Pakistan.
Healthy economic indicators Healthy economic indicators point to good growth prospects for Pakistani container and flat glass to achieve steady growth rates in the forthcoming financial year. Pakistan’s government has set a 4.8% GDP growth target for the financial year starting on July 1st. For the financial year ending on 30th June, 2021, Pakistan has said it is on course to achieve 3.94% GDP - more than double the IMF’s view and roughly triple the World Bank’s projection. The IMF is estimating GDP growth for 2020/21 at 1.5%, while the World Bank puts the expected expansion at 1.3%. Ratings agency Fitch said Pakistan’s economy appeared to have weathered the pandemic shock well relative to its peers. It said provisional data pointed to GDP growth of 3.9% in the current
28 Glass International July/August 2021
Company profile Pakistan.indd 1
11/08/2021 14:57:45
