Expana proposes to launch US and UK Glass Container Indices and UK Glass Waste Assessments

Expana proposes to launch US and UK Glass Container Indices and UK Glass Waste Assessments

November 25, 2024

Expana is proposing to launch 10 monthly Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) for the US and UK glass markets, and is collecting feedback from market participants until Wednesday December 11, 2024.

If the industry supports this proposal, Expana suggests launching the monthly assessments on Tuesday, December 31, 2024.

The proposed specifications for the assessments would be as below:

The proposed assessments would reflect the transactable value at 16:00:00 London time.

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, these proposed UK spirits indices would 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 would be 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 would also be important for market players in Europe.

Overall, container glass is widely used and highly sustainable, and the new assessments would bring transparency to a highly traded, but opaque market. The proposed assessments would complement Expana’s existing container glass coverage and would 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 would 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 would be 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 would be rounded to $1.74, and $1.755 would be rounded to $1.76.

The UK assessments would be 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 would be rounded to £1.74, and £1.755 would be rounded to £1.76.

If you have any feedback or suggestions on this proposal, please send this to [email protected] by Wednesday, December 11, 2024 and clearly state which market note your comments relate to, and if comments are intended for publication by Expana.

Expana will acknowledge receipt of all comments by email.