AGC Glass Europe (a division of Asahi Glass) has launched a flat glass production line near Klin in Russia with a reported capacity of 1000/tpd. A company representative claims the furnace, which uses float technology, to be the world's largest. Construction of the production line began three years ago but was halted as a result of the ongoing economic crisis. The investment is wroth more than 150M/Euros, according to the company representative. This is the second line of the AGC plant near Moscow. The first launched in 2005 and produces 600/tpd. According to the company, the need to increase production results from the growing needs of the market. The company reports that before the launch of the new furnace it occupied about a third of the Russian building glass market. With its increased capacity, it expects this share to increase to 50%.
