Nghe An: Many unburnt brick factories 'died young'

Stagnant products

Implementing the Government's policy, Nghe An province has built a project to develop unburnt bricks until 2020. Up to now, there are 482 establishments, mainly small-scale private households, with the main products being cement bricks (dashboards) reaching 726 million bricks/year. Of which, there are over 10 small and medium-sized factories producing aggregate bricks, foam concrete bricks, unburnt bricks made from soil using polymerization technology...

According to this Project, public investment construction works (headquarters, schools, hospitals) are required to use high-quality unburnt bricks and high-rise buildings must use 30% of the total materials as unburnt bricks.

However, according to a survey by Nghe An Newspaper, this environmentally friendly material is currently facing difficulties because it cannot find an outlet.

Production of unburnt bricks at Tam Dinh brick factory, Tuong Duong. Photo: Van Truong

At the unburnt brick factory in Tam Dinh commune, Tuong Duong, millions of bricks are in stock, piled up in a mess. Mr. Nguyen Van Que, owner of the unburnt brick production facility, said: This unburnt brick production line has been in operation since 2016, with an investment of over 13 billion VND, with an operating capacity of 35 million bricks/year. Currently, the factory still has over 3 million unburnt bricks of all kinds in stock. At its peak, the factory had over 40 workers, but now it has to stop production, the factory only keeps 2-3 workers to protect and maintain the machinery.

Also in the same situation is an unburnt brick factory in Dong Thanh commune, Yen Thanh. The representative of this brick factory shared: Since 2018, we have borrowed to invest in building an unburnt brick production line of over 10 billion VND with a capacity of 2 million bricks/year. Since 2019, it has been difficult to operate, the reason is that people rarely use this material to build houses, although the factory has sold it very cheaply, such as the price of 1 solid brick on the market is 1,500 VND/brick, the price of unburnt brick is 650 VND/brick but it cannot be sold.

Not to mention Yen Thanh has hundreds of cheap dashboard manufacturing points, so unburnt bricks have difficulty competing. Currently, the facility has millions of bricks in stock.

There are 3 million unburnt bricks left at Tam Dinh brick factory, Tuong Duong. Photo: Van Truong

Also in Son Thanh commune, Yen Thanh, since 2011, Mr. Nguyen Huu Thi has invested over 50 billion VND in a non-fired brick production line. In 2011, the company produced the first batch of 1 million bricks, sold to some households to build houses, however, due to difficult output, the company has stopped production since 2011.

There are still many units that are having to operate on a temporary basis, such as Quoc Anh brick factory in Tan Lac town, Quy Chau, Nghia Hoan unburnt brick factory, Tan Ky. Some factories are having to temporarily stop operations, such as Duc Thinh unburnt brick company in Hoang Mai town, VLXD-NTT Joint Stock Company in Son Thanh, Yen Thanh... which shows that the unburnt brick program is going into a... dead end.

Construction projects using state capital in Yen Thanh district are still using burnt bricks. Photo: Van Truong

The reason for the poor consumption of unburnt bricks in Nghe An is that the awareness of investors, design consultants, contractors, and consumers about unburnt construction materials is still inadequate, and they do not understand much about unburnt construction materials in particular and aerated concrete in general. Unburnt brick factories were established at a time when our country's economy was affected by recession, public investment was cut, the real estate market was sluggish, loan interest rates were high, etc.

In addition, many investors lack experience and have limited capital, so most of them only import technological lines with average level and lack of uniformity; technology transfer, production techniques and technology absorption are not good. Moreover, the situation of eliminating manual and improved manual brick kilns to gradually limit the type of traditional firing materials in the locality is not thorough, leading to a large output of red bricks.

A synchronous solution is needed.

Some businesses and owners of non-burnt brick production facilities shared: In order for non-burnt brick products to develop and gain a foothold in the construction materials market, departments and agencies need to promptly issue written regulations and legal policies on guiding standards as well as regulations on handling of construction works.

In particular, it is necessary to promote more strongly so that people can understand that this is a non-toxic material and meets safety standards to avoid fear and use traditional materials.

Many unburnt brick factories in the province cannot find outlets. Photo: Van Truong

A representative of Nghe An Department of Construction added: Non-fired construction materials replacing fired bricks is the right direction, suitable for current conditions and the world's sustainable development trend. Regarding policy mechanisms, in recent years, the province has created maximum conditions for businesses to invest in developing non-fired materials, such as facilitating land lease procedures and bringing non-fired materials into state projects.

However, a specific program and roadmap are also needed to develop unburnt bricks, requiring ministries, branches and localities to implement synchronous solutions to overcome difficulties. Join hands with businesses to solve the problem of capital and interest, strictly implement the use of unburnt construction materials in State-funded projects, encourage and propagate to people about this environmentally friendly material.