Asahi Glass May Increase Prices for Supplies to U.S., Europe

Asahi Glass Co., Asia´s biggest maker of the material, said it may increase prices for construction glass by a "single-digit" percent in the U.S. and Europe to cope with higher fuel and raw material costs.

Prices on supplies to the U.S. may be marked 7 percent to 8 percent higher, Senior Executive Vice President Takashi Wada said today in Tokyo, where the company is based. Glassmakers are seeking the upper end of a single-digit percentage price increase for the European market, which buyers may mostly accept, he said.

Asahi Glass and other glassmakers want to pass on increased costs to customers to shield themselves from record oil prices. Asahi Glass is also in talks with carmakers for its first "substantive" increase since 1979.

"Price revisions of 7 percent to 8 percent in the U.S. won´t be impossible," Wada said.

The company must also seek further increases in the prices of construction glass in Japan, said Akio Endo, regional president for Japan and other parts of Asia. The company announced in December it will increase the production of construction glass by as much as 20 percent starting Jan. 1.

Asahi Glass shares fell 0.8 percent to close at 1,274 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange today. The stock has lost 15 percent this year.