BV Glass: Germany’s glass industry faces capacity pressures amid weak demand

Despite strong infrastructure, technical expertise, and industry experience, Germany’s glass sector is facing weaker demand, says Christiane Nelles, director general of the Federal Association of the German Glass Industry (BV Glas). 

She argues this is due to overall lower demand in the glass packaging market and changing consumer behavior. 

Recently, major glass manufacturers in Europe have closed down some of their German production facilities, including Ardagh, BA Glass, and Verallia.

High energy costs, weaker demand, overcapacity, carbon costs, and difficult market conditions have driven companies to restructure, according to the European Glass Container Federation.

Packaging Insights speaks to Nelles to further understand the current state of Germany’s glass production capacity and how policymakers can bolster the industry to prevent further closures.

Are Germany’s capacity reductions temporary or evidence of a longer-term structural decline in domestic glass manufacturing?

Nelles: Germany’s container glass industry remains a highly capable and reliable partner for its customers. It has modern production facilities, extensive technical expertise, and considerable experience in using secondary raw materials in closed-loop systems. It is indispensable to Germany’s F&B industry. Glass is also the most popular packaging material among German consumers, as shown by a survey conducted by Aktionsforum Glasverpackung in October 2025.

At the same time, Germany’s glass industry is facing weaker demand. Following declines in sales volumes in 2023 and 2024, the German container glass market recorded a modest recovery in 2025, growing by 2.2% to approximately 3.87 million metric tons. However, this recovery did not continue: in the first quarter of 2026, sales volumes fell by 3.4% year on year to around 929,000 metric tons. Sales of beverage bottles declined by 5%. This reflects lower demand in the glass packaging market as well as changing consumer behavior.

In response, Germany’s glass industry has adjusted its production capacity. This is intended to align production volumes with demand and to safeguard the long-term economic viability of glass manufacturing.

Such measures become necessary when weaker market conditions coincide with persistently high energy and carbon costs and uncertain investment conditions, as is currently the case in Germany. Moreover, once a glass furnace has been shut down, it cannot be brought back into operation at short notice when the market recovers. The capacity is therefore lost over the longer term.

The current market situation reflects changing demand and a modest structural decline. This development is a clear signal that the conditions for manufacturing in Germany must be shaped in a way that enables competitive production and continued investment. BV Glas is committed to ensuring that these conditions are created.

How will these closures affect Germany’s glass-packaging supply security and recycling systems?

Nelles: The supply of glass packaging in Germany remains secure. Germany’s glass industry has efficient production networks and can balance volumes between sites. The adjustment of production capacity has not affected delivery times. Transport distances may, however, change in individual cases, depending very much on the market partners concerned.

The recycling infrastructure will also remain in place, and skilled employees are generally not lost. Experience shows that they are often transferred to other production plants, where they can continue to contribute their valuable expertise, including in support of the industry’s transformation.

The glass industry is already investing in hybrid and electric furnaces, energy efficiency, and the increased use of cullet. To continue along this path toward decarbonization, it needs appropriate framework conditions and economically stable production sites. Companies will make the necessary investments only where competitive energy prices, sufficient grid capacity, reliable regulatory conditions, and a viable long-term market outlook are in place.

What action is required from German and EU policymakers to prevent further facility closures?

Nelles: The German and European glass industry is highly capable, innovative, and ready to contribute to decarbonization. To enable this transition and prevent further closures of furnaces or production sites, climate action, security of supply, and international competitiveness must be considered in a more integrated way. What is needed above all is a reliable industrial policy framework that enables investment in modern, lower-carbon production processes in Germany and Europe.

The first priority is to ensure that energy prices are internationally competitive and predictable over the long term. Glass manufacturing is energy-intensive and relies on continuously operated high-temperature processes. Glass furnaces cannot be adjusted at short notice in response to market signals or flexibly ramped up and down. Instruments such as an industrial electricity price, compensation for indirect carbon costs, and an appropriate reform of industrial grid charges must therefore reflect the technical realities of glass production.

At the same time, the industry needs reliable access to competitively priced electricity and natural gas, and, in the longer term, hydrogen, as well as the rapid expansion of electricity grids and energy infrastructure.

European carbon policy must also prevent carbon leakage. The EU Emissions Trading System must not result in production — and therefore emissions — being relocated to regions with less stringent climate, energy, and environmental requirements.

Sectors exposed to international competition continue to require effective protection, appropriate levels of free allocation, and compensation for indirect carbon costs. Requirements and benchmarks must take account of technically achievable decarbonization pathways, the long investment cycles of industrial installations, and the actual availability of affordable low-carbon energy and infrastructure.

How can policymakers create the investment certainty needed for glass producers to commit to decarbonization technologies?

Nelles: Investment conditions must also reflect the scope and timescales of industrial transformation. Glass furnaces generally remain in operation for many years, and fundamental decisions on electrification, hybrid furnaces, renewable gases, energy-efficiency measures, or higher cullet shares are often taken when a furnace is renewed. Funding instruments and permitting procedures must therefore be technology-neutral and reliable over longer periods. Only under these conditions can companies make investment decisions in favor of European production sites.

Fair trading conditions are equally important. European manufacturers cannot be expected to bear permanently higher climate and energy costs in international competition unless comparable requirements apply to imports or effective compensation mechanisms are put in place.

Europe has a strong, circular, and technologically advanced container glass industry. Moreover, during times of crisis, the industry makes an important contribution to ensuring the supply of essential goods to the population and thereby strengthening societal resilience.

Preserving this strength requires more than short-term support measures. Europe needs a lasting framework for competitiveness that combines affordable energy, effective protection against carbon leakage, and investment-friendly conditions for the transition.