Rising steel and cement prices make construction businesses worried

Since the beginning of May 2025, the construction materials market has fluctuated a lot, steel and cement prices have increased simultaneously, making construction enterprises worried about balancing costs and maintaining project progress, especially key projects.

Since the end of April 2025, steel prices sold at agents and stores in Lao Cai city have increased specifically: Steel coils increased by 160 VND/kg (from 15,125 VND to 15,285 VND/kg); rebar steel increased by 195 VND/kg (from 15,200 VND to 15,395 VND/kg).

Since the beginning of May 2025, cement prices at dealers have also increased by 50,000 VND/ton: Hoang Long cement and Ha Trung cement grade 30 - 40 are priced at 1.25 - 1.35 million VND/ton, respectively; Hai Phong cement is priced at 1.6 million VND/ton; Yen Binh cement grade 30 - 40 is priced at 1.3 - 1.4 million VND/ton, respectively... Cement prices fluctuate depending on the region due to the addition of transportation costs.

Immediately after the price of cement and some other materials increased, concrete companies in the area also started to adjust the price of commercial concrete by 30,000 VND/m ³ : Commercial concrete grade 100 (stone 1x2, 2x4, slump 12÷2) is priced at 840,000 VND/m ³ ; concrete grade 150 (stone 1x2, 2x4, slump 12÷2) is priced at 890,000 VND/m ³ ; concrete grade 200 (stone 1x2, 2x4, slump 12÷2) is priced at 940,000 VND/m ³ ; concrete grade 250 (stone 1x2, 2x4, slump 12+2) is priced at 990,000 VND/m ³ ; Concrete grade 300 (stone 1x2, 2x4, slump 12+2) costs 1,090,000/ ^m3 .

Increasing material prices directly affect the construction process of projects in the area.

Construction of key project to prevent erosion of Red River bank (phase 2).

Construction Joint Stock Company 568 participated in package No. 09, constructing the key project of embankment to prevent landslides on the Red River bank (phase 2), from Km1 + 140.32 to Km3 + 370.52, length 2,230.2 m. Up to now, the unit has constructed a value of about 97 billion VND, estimated at 63% of the contract value. However, since the beginning of 2025, the market has recorded 3 increases in material prices, making the construction contractor worried.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Site Commander, Construction Joint Stock Company 568 said that the unit has taken advantage of the time and the handed-over site to immediately implement the construction items, but currently there are still some sections that have not been cleared. Therefore, the unit hopes that the investor and Lao Cai city will soon hand over the site so that the construction can be completed.

The key project of the Red River embankment against landslides (phase 2) has a total length of 3,209.6 m running along the right bank of the Red River, starting from the Ngoi Duong stream outlet to the end of the line adjacent to Lang Giang bridge, Xuan Tang ward, Lao Cai city. The embankment's vertical wall structure is made of reinforced concrete grade M250; the embankment's wall height is from 5 - 11 m depending on the ground geology.

One site must be constructed intermittently because Lao Cai City People's Committee has not yet cleared the site.

According to records up to May 8, 2025, the embankment is still stuck at 3 site clearance points with a length of 520 m, in which 9 households have not agreed to compensation for site clearance, causing many difficulties for the construction unit, forcing interruptions.

At the construction site of the road bridge across the Red River border of Ban Vuoc, Bat Xat (Vietnam) - Ba Sai (China) these days, the construction unit is speeding up the progress to overcome the rainy and flood season in the coming months. The construction scale of the main bridge across the Red River is Extradosed (low tower cable-stayed bridge), with prestressed reinforced concrete beams, constructed using the cantilever method combined with fan-shaped cable-stayed bridges, the tower pillars are 20 m high from the bridge deck. The bridge is 35.3 m wide, including 4 lanes for motor vehicles, 2 lanes for rudimentary vehicles and 2 lanes for pedestrians, of which the Vietnamese side invested in building 1/2 of the main bridge, equal to 115 m.

The border bridge project from Ban Vuoc, Bat Xat (Vietnam) to Ba Sai (China) is being accelerated.

Mr. Ho Xuan Hung, Technical Manager of the bridge construction project of Trung Chinh Construction and Trading Company Limited - the bridge construction unit, said that speeding up the project's progress at this time will also help the unit reduce concerns about rising construction material prices.

According to experts, the main reason for the recent increase in steel and cement prices is the increase in input material costs, along with a strong recovery in demand for materials after the first quarter. In addition, some factors related to transportation, energy prices and the impact of raw material import policies also increased production costs.

Bridge construction uses a lot of steel.

In the current market context, construction enterprises are advised to be cautious in contract negotiations, build flexible financial scenarios and closely monitor domestic and international material price movements to sign project contracts that bring economic efficiency and avoid losses due to project price increases.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/gia-thep-va-xi-mang-tang-khien-doanh-nghiep-xay-dung-lo-lang-post401547.html