Brick prices increase sharply due to supply shortage

Brick prices are high, many agents and stores have to wait to get bricks from the factory (Photo taken at a construction materials store in Hai Duong City)

Record price increase

With many years of experience building ready-made houses for sale in Hai Duong City, Mr. NMT has never seen the price of burnt bricks as high as it is now. Even brick prices are adjusted by manufacturing enterprises on a daily basis. Currently, the price of Dong Tam bricks ranges from 1,700 - 1,850 VND/brick; Thanh Nhan bricks ( Bac Giang ) are 1,810 - 1,850 VND/brick..., 600 - 700 VND/brick higher than the same period last year. The price is high but the goods are "dripping", people in need have to depend on factories and agents.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, owner of a building materials store in Nhi Chau Ward (Hai Duong City) said that currently the price of imported bricks is very high, while the quantity is limited and unstable, greatly affecting business. Currently, most brick manufacturing facilities do not accept deposits. Many agents have to wait 3-5 days to get bricks from the factory.

Some people involved in the production and trading of fired bricks believe that the price of this product may continue to increase this year. The reason is that people still tend to prefer using fired bricks while the supply is decreasing slightly. After completely eliminating handmade fired bricks, from 2016 to 2020, Hai Duong approved investment in 19 tunnel brick production projects with a total capacity of about 2 billion bricks/year. However, recently, many tunnel brick factories have reduced production...

The construction budget of Mr. Nguyen Huu H.'s family in Hai Duong City has been "inflated" due to the high price of bricks.

Mr. Nguyen Huu H. in Hai Duong City said: “My family started building a house in March 2025. The 4-storey house needs about 100,000 bricks. Due to the skyrocketing price of bricks, the estimated cost of bricks for the project has increased by about 60 - 70 million VND compared to the original. Not to mention, this price may continue to increase if the price of bricks continues to increase. Not only that, the buyer of bricks also has to order and sometimes has to wait a few days for them, which affects the construction progress. There were times when the construction team for my family had to take a few days off to wait for bricks."

Narrow production

According to the assessment of some tunnel brick factory owners, the shortage of construction bricks began after the Lunar New Year. The reason is that in the second half of 2024, the price of construction bricks was stable at a low level, so factories operated at a low level, without products in reserve. When demand increased sharply, factories could not produce in time while dealers lacked goods to deliver to customers. In addition, investment costs in production fluctuated due to the sharp increase in raw land and coal prices. In addition, due to the impact of Typhoon Yagi and the flood in September 2024, many brick production facilities were flooded, factories, machinery and equipment were damaged, and it took time to restore production, leading to a decrease in supply.

Many tunnel brick factories are operating at full design capacity (Photo taken at the brick factory of Dong Tam Company Limited)

Typhoon Yagi caused 70% of the brick factories of Cuong Thinh 68 Construction Materials Production and Trading Service Joint Stock Company (Hai Duong City) to collapse and have their roofs blown off. The company had to stop brick production for 3 months. The factory representative said that they currently only have enough goods to supply to dealers.

Dong Tam Company Limited in Dai Son Commune (Tu Ky) also suffered tens of billions of VND in damage caused by storm No. 3. According to Mr. Vu Van Hat, Director of the company, the price of construction bricks has remained at 1,100 - 1,300 VND/brick throughout the period of 2019 - 2024. Meanwhile, during the same period, in addition to the increase in electricity prices, labor costs have increased by about 30%, investment costs in production such as coal prices and hilly land have increased by 50%... Many factories have maintained operations at a loss, so they have gradually reduced their production scale. Storm Yagi was like the "last straw" that caused many brick manufacturing enterprises to go bankrupt, reducing supply while demand for bricks still increased.

The sudden increase in the price of burnt bricks has a direct impact on people who are building and repairing buildings. However, this is the time to reshape the planning of the production and business of burnt bricks, and at the same time, it is an opportunity to develop a variety of construction materials, especially unburned products.

Thanh Cong concrete bricks, an important product of Thanh Cong Construction Materials Factory (Kim Thanh), are being used in many construction projects due to their stable quality. Bricks are produced using modern production lines and input materials are strictly controlled. According to Mr. Pham The Phuong, Director of this factory, the use of unburnt bricks is being expanded to family housing projects. The unit always ensures stable product quality and maintains competitive prices to attract customers.

Faced with fluctuations in brick prices, authorities need to strengthen market monitoring, promptly propose solutions to stabilize prices and ensure supply, limiting impacts on people.

JACKIE LONG - XUAN TRANG

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/gia-gach-nung-tang-manh-do-khan-hiem-nguon-cung-411565.html