What impact will the US's imposition of huge tariffs have on China's fiberglass exports?
Recently, the US has imposed a 34% reciprocal tariff on China, and China's fiberglass exports will be impacted. The US's imposition of a 34% tariff on Chinese goods will hit industries and enterprises with a high degree of export correlation in China. Among China's building materials products, the glass fiber export business accounts for a relatively high proportion. According to data from the China Fiberglass Industry Association, in 2024, the total export volume of fiberglass and its products in China accounted for 26.75% of the total domestic production of glass fiber yarn (7.56 million tons). In terms of the regions to which glass fiber is exported, the US is one of the major countries to which China exports glass fiber. According to data from Zhuochuang Information, in 2024, the total export volume of fiberglass in China was 2.1188 million tons, of which 245,700 tons were exported to the US, accounting for 11.60%; the total export value was 3.029 billion US dollars, of which 405 million US dollars were exported to the US, accounting for 13.37%. The US's imposition of tariffs on China will significantly increase the cost of China's glass fiber entering the US market, directly squeezing the export profits of China's fiberglass enterprises. In addition, even if the cost pressure is passed on to downstream consumers through price increases, China's fiberglass products will lose their price competitiveness in the US market and ultimately lose their market share in the US. Against this backdrop, the competitive advantages of fiberglass enterprises with extensive overseas production capacity layouts, especially those with production capacity layouts in the US itself, are becoming more evident.
The US may exempt building materials products from tariff collection, and the impact on fiberglass exports is expected to be mitigated. According to the news from CaiLian News on January 25, US President Trump said during a speech in California that he was "considering" not imposing tariffs on building materials within the next three years. fiberglass, with its unique performance advantages, is often used as a reinforcing material and mixed with materials such as cement and gypsum to make reinforced building materials products, improving their strength and durability. In addition, it can also be used as a thermal insulation material for the thermal insulation layer of buildings, etc., and it is a typical building materials product. If the US subsequently exempts the collection of tariffs on building materials, the impact of the imposed tariffs on China's fiberglass exports to the US will be relatively small. It is necessary to pay attention to the categories of building materials products exempted from tariffs, as well as whether there are differences in tariff exemptions for building materials products among different countries and regions.
The advantages of the production capacity layout in the US are prominently highlighted for the global leading fiberglass enterprises. China Jushi Co., Ltd. is a leading glass fiber enterprise in China. Currently, the company has the largest production capacity scale in the world, and overseas sales account for about 35% of the total sales volume. It has two overseas production bases, namely in South Carolina of the US and Suez in Egypt. The total overseas production capacity is 456,000 tons per year, of which the production capacity in the US is 96,000 tons per year. Compared with other domestic fiberglass enterprises, it is expected that the overseas sales situation of China Jushi will be less affected by the increase in US tariffs. The company can give full play to the advantages of its production base in the US and increase its market share in the US.
