The price of glass will fall in Azerbaijan after Azerbaijan-China joint venture Azershushe comes onstream. Gudrat Kerimov, President of Khazar company, the only glassmaker in Azerbaijan, said the country imports glass, mainly from Russia, Turkey, Iran and some from China to supply its demand while customs duties, transport expenses, crack and break push the prices up. "There will be no need for glass imports after the factory starts operation," said a company spokesman. "This means that we can expect prices to decline." Given that the new factory will be able to make glass in any size, this means that in the short term at least, there will be no need to be supplemented by imports. Azerbaijan's annual demand for flat glass products is 3M sq/m. The new site is scheduled to come onstream April 2009.
