From approximately February to April in the lunar calendar is considered the construction season in the northern region, as this is when the most construction projects begin throughout the year. The surge in demand makes the construction materials market very active, especially for fired bricks. However, due to insufficient supply, prices are increasing daily, significantly impacting project timelines and driving up costs for many constructions.
Brick prices reach record high.
Currently, the price of tunnel bricks sold at dealerships has increased to 1,600 – 1,850 VND/piece, 500 – 800 VND/piece higher than at the beginning of the year. In some areas, the price has even reached 1,900 VND/piece, almost double the previous price, the highest in many years.
Mr. Nguyen Van Toan, a resident of Pham Hong Thai commune (Khoai Chau district), shared: "My family started building a house in March 2025 with a floor area of about 180 square meters, requiring approximately 120,000 bricks. Initially, I estimated the cost for bricks at around 130 million VND, but in reality, it has already exceeded that by 60-70 million VND. There were even times when the construction team had to take a few days off because they couldn't order the bricks in time."
Not only have prices increased, but the shortage also means that even those with money can't be sure to buy bricks at the right time. Mr. Do Van Tiep from Hai Thang commune (Tien Lu district) said: "After many years of saving, I finally had enough money to build a house. But after only a short time of construction, the bricks ran out. Calling everywhere, I only received the answer 'out of stock,' and had to wait 2-3 days. Construction was stalled, workers were laid off, and additional costs increased, roughly over 100 million VND more than the initial estimate."
The skyrocketing price of bricks is causing concern not only among the public but also negatively impacting building material dealers.
Mr. Tran Ngoc Tuan, owner of a building materials agency in Tran Cao town (Phu Cu district), said: "Since the beginning of the year, the demand for bricks has surged, pushing prices up continuously, while supplies are scarce. Many customers, seeing the high prices and not having secured a brick supply in advance, have had to temporarily halt construction or reduce the scale of their projects. Therefore, despite the high prices, sales at the agency have not increased proportionally."
Supply shortage
According to our investigation, the main reason for the record increase in brick prices is the scarcity of supply from manufacturers. Many brick manufacturing businesses are operating at a reduced capacity, limiting investment in expanding production scale due to excessively high input costs.
Mr. Do Dang Trung, representative of Hoang Thanh Co., Ltd., Dong Ket commune (Khoai Chau district), said: "Currently, the price of main raw materials such as clay and coal has increased by about 1.5 times compared to 5 years ago. At the same time, the price of electricity and labor costs have also increased steadily every year, causing the cost of brick production to increase significantly... While around mid-2024, the selling price of finished products was at its lowest point, so we did not risk stockpiling goods, let alone investing capital to expand production scale. Therefore, in early 2025, although the selling price of bricks sometimes doubled compared to previous years, there was still not enough stock to sell."
Faced with this situation, many investors and contractors are in a dilemma. Mr. Nguyen Van The, a construction contractor in Tien Lu district, said: "Currently, I have 6 teams of workers undertaking construction for about 10 households. Due to the scarcity of bricks, many homeowners have not been able to find a supplier, so some projects we are contracting have had to be delayed."
Many families, in an effort to save costs, have been forced to change designs, reduce the size, or compromise on the quality of materials in auxiliary areas. This directly affects the durability, aesthetics, and safety of the building.
In response to this situation, the Department of Construction continues to publish monthly construction material prices on its electronic portal to help citizens and businesses stay updated. At the same time, authorities are strengthening inspections of price listings and public disclosure at businesses, and strictly penalizing cases of speculation and illegal price gouging.
However, in the long term, construction experts believe that to regulate brick prices back to a stable level and ensure that construction activities in the area are not disrupted, solutions are needed to support manufacturing plants, such as prioritizing the supply of input materials and strengthening the rational planning of clay raw material areas. Only then can the pressure of supply shortages be reduced.
Source: https://baohungyen.vn/gia-gach-tang-ky-luc-3181257.html
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