The building materials market is sluggish.
(Baonghean.vn) - The construction materials market in Nghe An province has been quite quiet since the beginning of 2023. Many brick factories have temporarily suspended production for extended periods. Sales volume of cement, steel, and other goods dealers is only 35% - 40% compared to the previous year.
Construction demand has decreased.
In Nghe An province, there are many construction teams. Each team has a contractor, specializing in residential construction projects, creating jobs for many local workers and meeting the construction needs of the people in the area. However, when the construction market slows down, the jobs of construction workers are also affected.
It's noticeable that, since the beginning of the year, there haven't been many housing construction projects in rural areas. Mr. Nguyen Tho Dien, a construction contractor in Tay Ho hamlet, Nam Thanh commune (Yen Thanh district), said that in previous years, his team of workers never ran out of projects; at times, they even took on three projects simultaneously, leaving them with more work than they could handle. In 2023, people are building fewer houses, and at times there are no projects at all, leaving dozens of construction workers with no work.
"Currently, the construction crew has work, but because it's a single-story house project, only 50% of the workers can be deployed. Overall, the income for construction workers is low this year," Mr. Dien shared.
Housing construction has decreased, therefore...building materialsRelated items such as paint, tiles, and sanitary ware are also selling very slowly. Ms. Phuong, the owner of a paint and tile dealership in Tan Ky town (Tan Ky district), said that this year fewer people are building new houses than in previous years, so paint sales have slowed down. "When civil construction projects decrease, sales staff sometimes have no income, so this year's revenue will likely decrease significantly compared to last year," Ms. Phuong said.
Building materials are selling poorly.
At brick factories in Tan Ky, Yen Thanh, Thanh Chuong districts, etc., there is a large surplus of unsold bricks. Some brick production units have temporarily ceased operations for many months now due to a lack of storage space.
Mr. Nguyen Van Tam, Director of Tan Ky Tunnel Brick and Tile Factory, said that the factory currently has millions of bricks in stock, while daily consumption is very low. The factory has been operating since 2014, and the market has never been as sluggish as this year. Due to the factory's high production capacity (40 million bricks/year) and slow consumption, the factory temporarily suspended brick production in September, instead focusing on producing high-tech roof tiles.
The brick and tile factory of Hoang Nguyen – Tan Ky Brick and Tile Company in Nghia Dung commune is in a similar situation. A factory representative stated that due to unsold products, the factory has temporarily ceased operations for several months, resulting in hundreds of workers being unemployed.
Similarly, construction sand and gravel are also selling very slowly at sand and gravel mines in the districts of Do Luong, Thanh Chuong, Tan Ky, etc.
A representative from Truong An Co., Ltd. in Do Luong district stated that the company operates a sand mine on the Lam River, but since the beginning of 2023, not only has the consumption of construction sand and gravel slowed down, but the selling price has also dropped significantly, from 82,000 VND/m3 to 67,000 VND/m3; meanwhile, the quantity of sand and gravel sold has also decreased noticeably. At the end of 2022, they sold 700-1,000 m3 per day, but in 2023, the daily sales volume gradually decreased, currently only reaching 200 m3/day. In addition, the company's ready-mix concrete business has also significantly declined.
Cement and construction steel are also experiencing very slow sales. According to Mr. Phan Bá Hải, Director of Hai Yen Transport and Trading Company Limited in Yen Thanh district, prices have been continuously falling in the first 10 months of this year, resulting in a large inventory of steel.
"Compared to the first 10 months of 2022, the amount of cement and construction steel this year is only 35% - 40%. The reason is..."real estate market"The market is frozen, affected by the economic recession... Normally, from the tenth lunar month onwards, people build houses in large numbers, but we don't know what will happen this year," said Mr. Phan Bá Hải.
When the demand for residential construction decreases, the consumption of building materials naturally slows down. Furthermore, many workers in the construction and transportation industries are also affected. If this situation continues, the building materials business will continue to face difficulties.
