Expana launches US and UK glass container indices and UK glass waste assessments

Expana has launched 10 monthly Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) for the US and UK glass markets.

The initial proposal was announced in a market note published on November 25, 2024, which can be viewed here and the decision note to go ahead with the assessments was published on December 12, 2024, and can be viewed here. The specifications for the assessments are as below:

The assessments for the UK assessments and indices reflect the transactable value at 16:00:00 London time.

The assessments for the US indices reflect the transactable value at 16:00:00 Eastern time. Please see Expana’s publication schedule for the holiday period, to see the changes to the assessment times during the holiday period.

The US glass market accounts for around 10% of global glass production, highlighting the significance of the US as a player in the world container glass industry, including the food, wine and beer industries. The use of glass in these industries increases sustainability, elevates taste, and allows companies to maintain a premium brand where required.

The spirit industry is significant to the UK economy, with whisky accounting for around 2% of all UK exports. As such, the UK spirits indices provide greater visibility on glass container manufacturing costs specifically for spirit bottles. Additionally, the UK spirit industry carries global prominence, thus these UK spirit indices are critically important for market participants all over the world.

Glass waste is an indispensable raw material in glass production, with manufacturers including ever-greater levels in raw material batches. The increased use of glass waste in container glass production lowers energy costs for manufacturers and makes the industry more sustainable, contributing towards the UK’s aim of becoming ‘net zero’ by 2050. The UK is one of the biggest players in glass waste globally. While servicing the domestic market, glass waste is also exported from the UK to several European countries where collection rates are relatively low, thus UK glass waste prices are also important for market players in Europe.

Overall, container glass is widely used and highly sustainable, and the new assessments bring transparency to a highly traded, but opaque market. The assessments complement Expana’s existing container glass coverage and give Expana’s subscribers a comprehensive view of input costs for the US and UK glass markets, and market prices for the UK glass waste industry.

The index assessments use a basket of underlying prices, based on a typical blend of costs for glass manufacturing to provide a reference price for the manufacturing cost of glass containers.

The US assessments are rounded to the nearest Dollar cent using the rule that decimals of four (4) or less round down, and decimals of five (5) or above round up, e.g. $1.744 are rounded to $1.74, and $1.755 are rounded to $1.76.

The UK assessments are rounded to the nearest British penny using the rule that decimals of four (4) or less round down, and decimals of five (5) or above round up, e.g. £1.744 are rounded to £1.74, and £1.755 are rounded to £1.76.

Please send any questions or comments about this market note to [email protected] and clearly state which market note your comments relate to, and if comments are intended for publication by Expana.

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