High construction material prices, people and businesses worried
The construction materials market has been constantly fluctuating since the beginning of the year; prices of steel, sand, and construction bricks have increased sharply. Many households and businesses are facing difficulties, with construction progress being slow due to the simultaneous increase in construction material prices and scarcity...
Rising costs, people and businesses worried
After many years of saving, at the beginning of this year, Mr. Hai and Ms. Oanh's family in Yen Son block, Ha Huy Tap ward (Vinh city) decided to build a new house on the family's old land. Currently, the house is in the process of building the second floor. However, since starting construction, the couple has been restless because the price of materials has been increasing continuously.
Mr. Hai said: Currently, bricks are in short supply, causing prices to increase by 10-15%. Steel prices have increased, sand and gravel have also increased, and supply is scarce. Most material prices have increased, except for cement, which has only increased slightly.
"My family is building a 2-storey house with an area of 90m²/floor. Since the beginning of the year, the price of steel, sand, and gravel materials has skyrocketed, causing the cost to increase by about 15% compared to the estimate. The family planned to build a house for about 1 billion VND, but now the price of sand and other materials has increased, so there will definitely be additional costs and we will have to borrow more," Mr. Hai shared.
The high price of materials has pushed up the price of construction works, causing many difficulties for contractors and project investors. Mr. Tran Tan Dat - Director of 3A Development Joint Stock Company, specializing in civil construction works in Vinh city under the form of contract, said: Currently, sand and gravel have increased the most, up to more than 30%; construction sand from 110,000 VND/m3 to 150,000 - 170,000 VND/m3; yellow sand from 190,000 VND to 270,000 - 280,000 VND/m3. Cement has increased slightly, a few tens of thousands of VND/ton. The increase in sand and cement has led to an increase in concrete.
Steel alone increased by over 200,000 VND/ton, for Hoa Phat steel, Thai Nguyen there was a phenomenon of out of stock. In a housing project, the cost of iron and steel accounts for about 15 - 20%, all of these costs will be included in the cost price. Therefore, when construction costs increase, we are forced to adjust the price up. But the adjustment is within the allowable level, if the increase is too high, customers will not be able to bear it, and we have to accept sharing with customers, reducing profits.
"Currently, our company is constructing more than 10 private houses, the price of the rough construction part alone has increased by about 7-10%. Enterprises have available equipment and materials such as scaffolding, machinery, etc., so they can share to some extent, compensating for the increase in material prices. In the current situation, small contractors who do not proactively provide equipment can easily break even, or even lose money," Mr. Dat shared.
Not only private works, but also works and projects from public investment capital have increased in cost compared to the original estimate, affecting the total investment.
Rising prices, lack of supply, and instability have affected people and construction material stores. Ms. Luong Sy - a steel and cement trader on Nguyen Phong Sac Street, Vinh City, said that it is the peak of the construction season but the supply is not guaranteed, causing high prices.
In particular, steel prices have continued to fluctuate recently. Most of the goods we have contracted in advance, but recently, some types such as iron and steel are often "out of stock", especially the scarce Phi 10 steel. Many companies apply a distribution policy, buying new large steel with a little small steel; buying 30 tons of large iron will only get 3 tons of small steel and the price of small steel has increased by 1 million VND/ton compared to the end of 2024. Meanwhile, small iron and steel roofing projects account for over 50%. Without goods, many private projects have had to stop. The rapid increase in prices and scarcity have made the business of the store difficult, while slowing down the construction progress of many households.
Need solutions to stabilize the market
Recently, a series of large steel enterprises in Vietnam have announced an increase in the selling price of steel bars and steel coils. This move took place in the context of fluctuating input material prices and market sentiment being affected by many domestic and foreign factors.
Specifically, Viet Duc Steel announced an increase of VND 200,000/ton for steel bars and VND 150,000/ton for steel coils in the Northern and Central markets, effective from May 15, 2025.
Hoa Phat Steel also adjusted the price increase by VND200,000/ton for steel bars and VND150,000/ton for steel coils in the Northern market.
Vinausteel Company Limited has announced an increase in the price of steel bars by VND200,000/ton and steel coils by VND150,000/ton. VAS Nghi Son Group Joint Stock Company has increased the price of VAS steel coils of all kinds by VND150/kg and ribbed steel bars by VND100/kg.
According to the Vietnam Steel Association, in the first quarter of 2025, finished steel production reached 7.464 million tons, up 5.7% over the same period in 2024. Finished steel sales reached 7.501 million tons, up 12.2% over the same period. Of which, exports reached 1.414 million tons, down 37.2% over the same period. As of early May, domestic construction steel prices ranged from VND13,400 - VND13,850/kg, depending on the brand and region. It is forecasted that domestic construction steel prices in June will continue to increase slightly or remain high.
In the context of the continuous increase in prices of raw materials including sand, stone, and cement, and the scarcity of sand and stone sources for mixing concrete, in April, concrete enterprises such as Nghi Son 320, Huong Kinh, etc. also announced price adjustments to customers. For example, Huong Kinh Production and Trading Joint Stock Company announced an increase of 60,000 VND/m3 in concrete prices from April 21, 2025.
The reason for the fluctuation is due to the impact of raw material import costs and public investment stimulus policies. In addition, increased electricity prices, transportation costs, etc. also cause the price of raw materials to increase. According to information from the Institute of Construction Economics (Ministry of Construction), the price of sand and construction stone increased by 0.29-1.3% compared to April 2025, because these two types of materials are widely used for traffic works, and construction works are still being implemented nationwide. In the context of increasing material prices and difficult supply, people and businesses still have to adjust their construction, production and business plans to cope with fluctuations.
To stabilize production and business, many construction enterprises expect the authorities to have effective intervention measures. There needs to be a solution to ensure the balance of supply and demand and stabilize the construction materials market.
The relevant authorities need to strengthen control over prices and supply of construction materials; monitor the production and trading of construction materials, and prevent hoarding and price gouging. At the same time, it is necessary to create conditions for construction material manufacturing enterprises to increase capacity and output to stabilize the market...
Mr. Tran Tan Dat - Director of 3A Development Joint Stock Company made a recommendation.
