Since the beginning of the year, almost all types of construction materials have risen in price, some products such as styrofoam by as much as 80 percent. Traders say that such a jump in prices for a short time, they do not remember from the crisis of the nineties.
Higher prices at warehouses in Serbia refer to reinforcement and all products that contain iron, thermal insulation, OSB boards, formwork, facade nets.
“All construction materials coming from China have risen in price by 20 to 40 percent due to the high price of transporting goods by container, facade mesh, corner moldings and formwork, which is used for joinery,” says Tanja Aprcovic, who works at a Belgrade warehouse.
In Cacak, blocks and tiles increased in price by about three cents, styrofoam “five” jumped from 1.5 to 1.9 euros per square meter, while adhesives are about 20 percent more expensive.
“The most expensive sheet metal is 15 millimeters, so in June last year it cost 420, now 780 euros,” says Rodoljub Popovic, a businessman from Cacak.
He says that he has not remembered such a jump in prices for 30 years, as much as he deals with that business.
The owners of the construction warehouses state that they themselves are confused, so they level the prices every hour and state that their customers are especially in shock.
“Rough construction materials, such as blocks, bricks or tiles, have risen in price by about five percent, while a big jump in prices has been recorded for materials for painting, facade works and insulation works,” says Slavica Zivkovic from the Association of Modern Clay Industry of Serbia.
The current prices of construction materials could, as it is estimated, reflect on the increase in the price of apartments in new construction, because there is a higher demand.
Goran Rodic from the Construction Chamber of Serbia believes that the increase in the price of construction materials is a consequence of the destruction of domestic production and the orientation towards imports.
He believes that this price jump does not necessarily affect the selling price of a square meter in a new building, which is dictated by the law of supply and demand.
“The selling price depends on the investor, who will, if there is space, raise it, regardless of whether the construction material has become more expensive or not,” explains Rodic.
According to him, a good location “swallows” all prices, while a bad one has to adjust.
“The brickyards do not work in the winter, the stocks have been used up, so the bricks have not been on the market for two months, and deliveries have started since April 1,” explains Tanja Aprcovic.
She says that there are not enough blocks, products that come from domestic factories, because the demand is higher than the production.
At the moment, there are not enough bricks, guitars and energy blocks in the warehouses in Serbia, as well as cement, Nova Ekonomija reports.
