(Yicai Global) Nov. 11 -- German medical glass manufacturer Schott has announced a further investment of EUR70 million (USD80.4 million) to boost the production of medium borosilicate glass tubes at a plant in eastern China amid surging demand.

Schott’s plant in Lishui city’s Jinyun county in Zhejiang province is facing increasingly urgent demand for the supply of glass tubes, the Mainz-based company said.

The Jinyun plant began production on June 30, with an investment of about EUR60 million and a capacity of 20,000 tons. The expansion project will begin next year, and the extra capacity is expected to come on tap in 2023.

The majority of vials used for pharmaceutical packaging worldwide are made of borosilicate glass, and demand has surged due to the need to bottle Covid-19 vaccines.

Medium borosilicate glass tubes are used to make vials because the material is resistant to water, acid, alkali, and freezing. But due to their high production threshold, there are few global manufacturers. Schott is one of the major producers.

China’s National Medical Products Administration does not recommend the use of low borosilicate glass and soda-lime glass in vaccine vials to avoid side effects, Cinda Securities said in a research report. So more medium borosilicate glass is likely to be used, it noted.

Editor: Peter Thomas