Ukraine needs 3-4 window glass plants for restoration
To restore Ukraine, it is necessary to build 3-4 plants for the production of window glass with a capacity of 25 million square meters per year, said president of the All-Ukrainian Union of Building Materials Manufacturers Kostyantyn Saliy, according to Ukrinform.
Modern window (thermopolished) glass is not produced in Ukraine at all. Before the war, Ukraine imported 85% of such products from Belarus and Russia.
"There was chaos in the glass market: it was imported en masse from countries like Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan. These products were made to standards inferior even to Soviet GOSTs. Ukraine would take everything. The state-owned Gomel plant from Belarus is still trying to sell its glass to Ukraine, and some buyers are importing these products without any sense of responsibility," the expert noted.
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He emphasized that one of the most urgent tasks is to ensure the domestic production of such products for reconstruction.
"Ukraine needs 3-4 factories with a capacity of 25 million square meters of thermopolished glass per year. So far, we only hear about their construction at the level of declarations: both the Turks and the Chinese have expressed interest, and Ukrainian businessmen planned to launch such production in Kyiv Oblast... But, until we see an operating plant and a team capable of handling the productive load, we cannot say that we will have enough window glass after the war," said Saliy.
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In contrast, the domestic PVC profile and other components for windows are sufficient for the current level of consumption. Additionally, during the war, Ukraine increased the export of window systems.
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"They are no worse than the Polish ones. On the contrary, they are better and cheaper. That's why even Germany, France, and Britain started buying Ukrainian products. Our manufacturers want to gain a foothold in the EU market, so, unlike some competitors, we are really honest with European customers and consumers. If the A-3 thermal resistance mark is written on our systems, they truly meet the declared parameters. This is in contrast to the products of many foreign manufacturers, who often overstate this indicator in their documentation," said Saliy.
The only enterprise in Ukraine for the production of cast polished glass in Lysychansk stopped working in 2015. The company went bankrupt due to significant gas debts. At the end of the 2010s, there were plans to create a large modern glass factory in Borodyanka, Kyiv Oblast, with an investment of $300 million. However, the project never began.
It was previously reported that during the two years of the full-scale invasion, the Russians destroyed or significantly damaged 50 million square meters of housing in Ukraine.
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