Don't smash the glass market. How bottles are produced in Russia

Polymer packaging wins the market every year, but glass does not give up its positions either. In terms of demand, glass containers take the third place after plastic packaging, as well as made from wood (cardboard and paper). At the same time, it is the manufacturers of glass containers that are most vulnerable to changes in the market - just like their fragile goods.

We import from France, we bring to Belarus

In general, glass container manufacturers should complain about the coronavirus year. For example, according to the analytical company Alto Consulting Group, the production of glass bottles in September 2020 increased by 5.1% compared to September 2019 and amounted to 918.2 million pieces.

The average producer price for glass closures last year increased by 7.7% compared to 2019. And according to the calculations of the ROIF Expert marketing agency, in general, at the end of the year, glass container consumption increased by 14% in physical units and by 23% in value terms.

Note that imports do not play a big role in this market, although last year their volume exceeded $ 60 million. Basically, glass containers are supplied to us by China, France and Germany, and from the regions the largest importers, of course, remain Moscow and the Moscow region, as well as St. Petersburg.

But in terms of exports in this segment, there are completely different leaders - Vladimir, Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod regions, which form 45% of the total. Basically, Russia supplies glass to Kazakhstan, Belarus and Poland. As for our region, glass containers from St. Petersburg and

Leningrad region was mainly exported to Azerbaijan and Belarus, there were also supplies to Norway and Belgium.

Stoves cost billions

Most of the operating enterprises were created at the beginning of the XXI century, and after ten years of operation they were modernized. But time does not stand still, and the specificity of production is such that it needs to be regularly updated - the cycle of a glass-melting furnace is on average 8-10 years. At the same time, the new equipment is produced abroad, and its cost reaches billions of rubles.

Naturally, in the current economic conditions, not all manufacturers will be able to recoup the installation of new equipment in the next ten years. The situation is complicated by the fact that glassmaking is one of the most energy-intensive industries, and constant increases in electricity tariffs make domestic glassmakers uncompetitive.

As a result, today some owners prefer, instead of a new stage of modernization with dubious chances of a return on investment, to simply squeeze the remaining resources out of the plant and make it bankrupt. Several glass container factories have gone bankrupt in Russia over the past few years, and this is not the end.

Answer for waste

Another factor that may affect the work of manufacturers is the updated concept of extended liability of manufacturers and importers for waste of goods and packaging, which was approved at the end of 2020. This document abolishes the standards for the disposal of packaging, while maintaining responsibility on the manufacturers of goods. At the same time, the updated concept assumes that the payment for the disposal of packaging will not be included in the tariff for the population and will not affect the final price of the goods.

The practical implementation of the concept starts on January 1, 2022, and by this time it is necessary to achieve a balance between the packaging released into circulation and its disposal. Entrepreneurs will be able to realize responsibility on their own by concluding an agreement with a utilizer or through utilization at their facilities. Otherwise, you will have to pay an environmental fee.

But before the start of the new mechanism, the responsible agencies, together with market participants, have a lot of work to create a new legal regulation. The corresponding "road map" on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister is planned to be developed and approved by February 15, 2021.

Obviously, the new legislation means new costs for manufacturers. However, there are also pluses. The necessary measures of state support will be developed for the industries that implement the actual utilization and stimulate the use of recyclable materials.

In general, manufacturers want to be encouraged to create more compact and easily recyclable packaging, involve the maximum amount of recyclable materials in production in order to minimize their costs for collection and disposal of waste.

Container with a stamp

This legislative innovation does not end there. At the end of January 2021, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill introducing tools for identifying manufacturers of glass consumer containers, designed to help the noble cause of combating counterfeit alcohol. It is proposed that now it will be necessary to apply a unique identifier mark (stamp) of the manufacturer to all containers produced in the country. Information about this mark will be entered in the federal register of signs that allow identifying the manufacturer.

Meanwhile, the current version of the law "On state regulation of production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products and on limiting the consumption (drinking) of alcoholic products" already contains a ban on the supply of alcohol in packaging that does not meet the requirements of state standards. However, only alcohol producers bear responsibility for the observance of this prohibition; now, glass container manufacturers will also have to be responsible for counterfeiting.

Legal producers of alcoholic beverages are already requiring glass factories to supply glass bottles with the manufacturer's identifier. On the other hand, some glass container manufacturers have no incentive to label when it comes to orders from illegal alcohol producers.

However, there is enough time to adapt to this innovation - the law has not yet been adopted, besides, a six-month transition period is expected before its entry into force, and bottles released before the “X-hour” can be supplied without labeling even to the end of the century.

Curiously, most glassmakers support the bill on mandatory labeling of bottles, although it seems to tighten the requirements for products. Manufacturers expect that this measure will protect the domestic market from competition with foreign suppliers.

Whether these expectations will come true is a big question. In general, the upcoming changes can hardly be called favorable for an already fragile market. In order not to break it, government agencies must carry out reforms as carefully as possible.

Source: https://spbvedomosti.ru/