Many business and construction materials shops are preparingsupplies to meet the needs for the peak construction season of theyear. Items such as steel, bricks, tiles, sanitary wares are selling well.
With a wide range of models, good quality and reasonableprices, locally made construction materials are increasingly capturing thedomestic market, according to traders.
Owners of building materials shops on To Hien Thanh streetin District 10 said that prices of most construction materials have notincreased, and some even reduced to boost sales.
Currently, locally made floor tiles are priced from 80,000VND (3.4 USD) to 250,000 VND (10.7 USD) per square metre depending on brands,while those imported from Malaysia, Italy, and Spain range from 400,000VND (17.1) to 1.3 million VND (55.6 USD) per square metre.
Paint manufacturers are offering attractive discounts toagents and customers, while lighting and decorative lamps haveseen prices discounted by 30-40 percent.
Unlike previous years when the construction materialsprices usually increased significantly in the final months of theyear, prices this year have been rather stable or haveeven fallen.
Cement prices, for instance, have fallen by 70,000-100,000VND per tonne to 1.1 million-1.27 million VND per tonne depending on brands.Traders attributed the fall in cement prices to supply outstripping demand.
Iron and steel prices are forecasted to remain unchangeduntil the year-end, they said.
According to experts, demand for construction materialsusually spikes near year-end when developers speed up construction ofhousing projects and people renovate their houses to welcome the Lunar New Year.
In addition, ministries, agencies and localities arespeeding up the construction progress of public investment projects in order todisburse public investment capital on schedule as directed by the PrimeMinister.
Despite difficulties, the steel industry exported nearlyseven million tonnes of iron and steel for a value of 3.65 billion USD inthe first nine months of the year, a year-on-year increase of 44.4 percent involume and 16 percent in value.
China was the largest buyer of Vietnamese iron and steel,accounting for 36.2 percent of total export volume and 28.5 percent of totalexport revenue, followed by Cambodia and Thailand.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the firstnine months of 2020, the cement industry exported over 28 million tonnes ofproducts, earning 1.03 billion USD compared to 23.24 million tonnes and 973million USD in the same period last year.
“Compared to the same period in 2019, cement and clinkerexports have increased by nearly 21 percent in volume and 6.2 percent invalue. The increase here was mainly driven by the rise in export volume, notthe export price,” a representative of the ministry said.
Cement firms will have opportunities to boost exports whenmany countries resume normal operations.
Vietnam’s steel exports to China are expected toincrease since China has tightened policy that aims to shut downsteel plants using outdated technologies.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-PacificPartnership and the EU – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement have opened exportopportunities for the local steel industry in these markets, he said.
However, the steel industry has encountered fiercecompetition with imported steel products in the domestic market, experts havesaid, adding that the industry has also had to deal with trade remedyinvestigations in export markets.
Therefore, businesses need to regularly update information onthe export situation and cooperate with authorities in handling of trade remedyinvestigations, they said.
To reduce risks, they suggested the steel sector toperfect its production process and improve its competitiveness. In particular,they need to form a closed manufacturing cycle from input materials toproduction, and gradually eliminate the use of imported raw materials./.