|
Building material market gloomy in construction season
The construction season has begun, but the purchasing power of building materials on the market remains very weak, even though the prices have dropped drastically.
Despite the demand and investment stimulus measures, the demand for building materials remains low. The sales of materials in late-2008, the month just before Tet, dropped by 30-50% over the same period of the previous year, and have become gloomier these days.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the first two months of the year, the industrial value of many products, including building materials, has decreased significantly. The industrial value of round steel, for example, dropped by 9%, and ceramic tiles by 30.2%
Ha, the owner of a paint shop on Lac Long Quan Road said that sales have been going very slow since the beginning of the year. She can sell several cases of paint every day to the families who are repairing their house, but she cannot sell in large quantities to big construction projects.
However, Ha said that paint companies have not slashed sale prices despite the slow sales. They only provide more products with different prices to allow for more choices for clients.
Floorboard import and distribution companies also said that their sales have dropped by 40% over the previous years.
Cat Linh street, the centre of sanitary ware and tile shops are also quiet these days. Sanitary ware said that their sales have decreased by 30% in comparison with pre-Tet days and by 60% over the same period of the last year.
Tile producers have offered price reductions of 10-30%, but the sales remain unsatisfactory.
Dong, a salesman at the 1E Cat Linh Trade Centre said that producers have anticipated big difficulties in 2009, and that sales at 80% of the previous year would be the best scenario for 2009.
Nevertheless, building material traders are not too pessimistic about the slow sales. They believe in the high possibility of the market recovery as the demand for construction materials to build houses proves to be very big. The market has become quiet because of the economic recession. However, the situation will be different when the national economy becomes better, and big and small construction projects are kicked off
Construction contractors said that the building material prices have decreased by 40% over the same period of the last year.
According to the Ministry of Construction, the cement production value has increased by 10%. The cement price in February is hovering around VND830,000-860,000/ton for PCB 30 and 1,060,000-1,139,000/ton for PCB. The demand for cement in Q1 is estimated at 11 million tons, while the total productivity is at 14 million tons.
Vu Ha
vietnamnet
|
