according to the data of the London based Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), as the European energy crisis intensified, the trading price of natural gas in Europe exceeded $2400 per thousand cubic meters for the first time since March 8.
Under the influence of the intensified crisis, the European glass manufacturing industry began to light the yellow light of "production suspension".
As an oligopoly manufacturer of medium borosilicate glass, the market share of German Schott Company in global vaccine glass bottles can reach 50%. Together with Japanese NEG Company and American Corning Company, the company accounts for about 90% of the global market share of vaccine bottles. Medium boron glass and high boron glass are widely used in pharmaceutical industry as containers for drugs and vaccines.
The world's largest production base of Short is in Mainz, Germany, which also means that once the natural gas in Europe is interrupted, the global vaccine bottles are likely to face the threat of shortage.
In fact, as early as April 30, John Bell, a professor of Oxford University School of Medicine, said in an interview with the BBC: "At present, there are only 200 million vaccine bottles in the world." Jeremy Farrar, chairman of Wellcome Foundation, also said: "There is a crisis of glass bottle shortage."
On June 16, the Wall Street Journal also warned that a global glass shortage had emerged. Multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers are stepping up the test and production of the new crown vaccine. They hope that once the vaccine is proved to be safe and effective, it will be put into production immediately. However, due to the shortage of vaccine bottles and the special glass used, the production and distribution of vaccines are facing potential obstacles.
In addition to being used in the medical field, glass is widely used in wind turbines, semiconductors, food and other industries. Therefore, the suspension of glass production means that the supply chain of European food, pharmaceutical, medical, automotive, solar and construction industries will be interrupted at the same time.
The world's largest glass manufacturer is France's Saint Gobain (SGOB, with a share price of 46.16 euros and a market value of 23.68 billion euros). Its core business includes the design, manufacturing and distribution of glass products used in automotive, home and office fields. If it faces the interruption of natural gas supply, for Europe, there will be gaps in upstream materials in many industries.
Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, Riedel, the world's oldest glass manufacturer, is preparing for a temporary shutdown.
Riedel was founded in Austria in 1756, specializing in the production of luxury wine glasses and sober wine glasses, known as "Rolls Royce in the Wine Cup".
Riedel has two factories in the southern German cities of Amberg and Weiden, which rely on Russian natural gas for energy supply. These two factories can produce 60 million sets of machines to make glasses. Due to the soaring natural gas price, Riedel's energy bill has risen by at least 30%.
Maximilian Riedel, the global CEO of the company, said in an interview with the media: "At present, and at least in the next few years, we will completely rely on natural gas production. At present, no energy supplier is willing to sign an agreement with us for three years or even 12 months, so we must buy energy every day." It is reported that Riedel has been operating the plant with the largest capacity to cope with the impact of the further rise in winter energy prices.
According to the German Glass Association, if Russia stops the supply of natural gas, each factory in the glass industry will face a loss of 50 million euros. A very prominent feature of the glass industry is that the furnace for melting glass needs to work 24 hours without interruption. Once it is cooled, the production facilities will be damaged. This also means that once the supply of natural gas as energy is stopped, the whole plant must stop operation and suffer corresponding losses.
The association added that to ensure that production facilities are not irreversibly damaged, plants must have 70 per cent of the maximum flow of natural gas. Once the production is stopped, the production system will be destroyed, and the factory may even be at risk of explosion. The reconstruction of the factory may take as short as a few months and as long as two years, which is absolutely a heavy blow to the entire European market.
