The upstream of the glass industry includes raw materials, fuel, and equipment, among which raw materials and fuel are the main cost expenditures in the glass production process. Raw material costs account for 23% of glass production costs, while fuel costs account for 34% of glass production costs. The raw materials mainly include soda ash, quartz sand, mirabilite, dolomite, limestone, etc. Among them, soda ash accounts for the largest cost of raw materials, reaching about 54%, quartz sand accounts for about 27%, and other raw material costs account for less than 20%. The price fluctuation of quartz sand is relatively small, so soda ash is one of the main factors affecting the cost of glass manufacturing.

In the middle reaches, according to the differences in production processes, flat glass can be divided into float glass and rolled glass, with downstream demand for float glass mainly distributed in the real estate and automotive manufacturing fields; The demand for rolled glass is concentrated in the photovoltaic field.

The downstream of glass is mainly concentrated in industries such as real estate, automobiles, home appliances, photovoltaics, and electronics.