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Glass Business News |
April 4, 2000 |
China Glass 2000 Opens in Beijing Promoting Technical Exchange & Co-Operation With Foreign Countries The Eighth China International Glass Industrial Technical Exhibition (China Glass 2000), aimed at promoting technical exchange and co-operation between China and foreign countries, opened in Beijing yesterday and will run until Friday. More than 300 glass companies from 18 countries including Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and the United States are set to take part in the event, which is being sponsored by the Chinese Ceramic Society and the China National Association for Glass Industry. "China's glass industry has developed rapidly since the adoption of the reform and opening-up policies in 1978," Jiang Donghua, vice-president of the Chinese Ceramic Society, said during the opening ceremony. The flat glass output jumped from 17.8 million boxes in 1979 to 179 million boxes in 1999, ranking it first worldwide, he said. By 1998, China had 330 flat glass mills with some 500 production lines and an annual production capacity of 215 million boxes. According to Hao Zhenhua of the State Administration of Building Materials Industry, small glass factories played a role in local economic development, but their outdated technology, high energy consumption, low productivity and poor quality had a negative impact on the economy's sustainable development. In addition, products manufactured by the majority of the small glass factories were not up to the standards set by the central government. Hao's bureau closed some small glass mills with an annual production of 150,000 boxes of glass in 1999. |
source: Chinese Newspaper |