This article first appeared in the 200011
issue of BD+C.
The rising costs of raw materials, labor and energy have pushed glass prices higher through the first two-thirds of this year. During August 2000, average prices charged by U.S. producers of flat glass products were 3.8 percent higher than during August of last year. This follows four consecutive years of drops in average price.
Although the annual price declines grew progressively smaller from 1996 through 1999, the cumulative effect was such that average flat glass prices during 1999 were almost 5 percent lower than at year-end 1995.
Despite the recent run-up in prices, there are signs that inflation in this product group peaked in the spring and early summer of this year.
