Prevent "speculation and price inflation" of construction materials

Just a few hours after the Prime Minister issued Official Dispatch No. 85/CD-TTg, dated June 10, 2025 on strengthening solutions to manage and stabilize construction material prices, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province issued Official Dispatch No. 1849/UBND-XDMT to departments, branches, sectors; project investors using local budget capital; People's Committees of localities in the province requesting serious implementation of the above direction of the head of the Government.

Not only Quang Ninh , one of the localities with always very vibrant construction activities, in the past few days, many provinces and centrally-run cities have also begun to take drastic actions to implement the Prime Minister's direction. In addition to complying with the direction of superiors, the management and stabilization of construction material prices is also a special concern of local leaders - those who are worried about the increase in price and scarcity of materials, affecting the progress of key projects being implemented in the area.

It should be added that, in recent times, key transport infrastructure projects have been simultaneously implemented and accelerated. A series of civil works, housing and real estate projects in many localities have also been built, contributing to promoting the country's socio -economic development, determined to complete the 8% growth target in 2025, creating momentum, creating position, creating force for the period 2026 - 2030 to grow at double digits.

Anticipating the possibility of increased demand for construction materials, the Government and the Prime Minister have issued drastic instructions, requiring ministries, branches and localities to focus on ensuring the supply of construction materials, especially for key national infrastructure projects. However, since mid-2024, the prices of many types of input construction materials have increased by more than 10%, with some types of construction materials increasing by up to 30%; not reflecting the actual costs of exploitation and production.

The sudden increase in prices of many construction materials, as well as insufficient supply, has led to many projects being stalled, causing difficulties for construction contractors, slowing down the progress of key infrastructure projects, and affecting the disbursement of public investment capital.

There are many reasons for the large fluctuations in construction material prices such as the imbalance between supply and demand of materials, especially for construction sand and stone materials; increased costs of production and exploitation of local materials; the formation of input material supply chains in the construction sector is still limited and weak... Even signs of manipulation and monopolization of the construction materials market cannot be ruled out as assessed in Official Dispatch No. 85.

Large fluctuations in input construction material prices cause many difficulties for construction contractors in accessing material sources and mobilizing and using materials according to construction progress requirements. In addition, the payment of costs according to the construction contract of the contractor will also encounter many difficulties and obstacles because the unit price of work according to the contract is fixed or because the adjustment of payment prices according to the contract is delayed, affecting the cash flow of the enterprise while the price of construction materials fluctuates too quickly, but the "sensitivity" of price announcements cannot keep up.

To immediately stop the multifaceted consequences of price increases and material shortages, especially common materials - currently the main raw materials for infrastructure projects - there is no other way but for localities to speed up the process of granting mining licenses. In addition, it is necessary to extend and adjust mining capacity to ensure supply-demand balance; promptly handle local shortages of materials at projects; proactively review obstacles, remove them, and create the best conditions for both supply and demand sides in mining and supplying materials.

Investors and contractors themselves also need to learn from experience when calculating the exact material needs right when preparing the project to coordinate well with localities with mines, avoiding creating too large a demand for materials when starting to implement, causing difficulties and confusion for localities.

In particular, the Ministry of Public Security needs to promptly investigate and strictly handle organizations and individuals who manipulate the market, speculate for profit in the production and trading of construction materials, and cover up, protect, and ignore violations that recur.

Doing well the above issues will not only contribute to fundamentally solving the problem of hoarding goods waiting for abnormal price increases of materials, but also help ensure the progress and reasonable costs of construction projects, while maintaining discipline and order in the management of conventional mineral exploitation, avoiding the risk of group interests and the phenomenon of "speculation and price inflation" that may occur.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/ngan-dau-co-thoi-gia-vat-lieu-xay-dung-d304215.html