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Sales of building materials by enterprises today are at best 17-30% of pre-war volumes – expert
KYIV. Aug 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sales of building materials by enterprises today are at best 17-30% of pre-war volumes, prices have almost reached the ceiling, President of the Ukrainian Union of Building Materials Producers Kostiantyn Saliy has said.
"Lucky ones are enterprises that now sell 17-30% of pre-war sales. Now manufacturers are only interested in who will buy the goods for real money – it is not advisable to work for a warehouse," Saliy told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to his forecast, the activity of construction companies in the market may not recover until spring 2023. Until then, the cost of building materials will be affected by the actions of the NBU regarding the new tax on the purchase of foreign currency, fluctuations in fuel prices, as well as likely attacks on enterprises by the occupiers.
"There is a ceiling of growth – the real purchasing power of the population has not increased, sales volumes of large and small retail chains have significantly decreased and will continue to decline after September. Large title consumers (construction concerns and firms) do not purchase pre-war volumes and the date when they will powerfully enter the market again. Therefore, growth in prices for most types and categories of building products has almost stopped," the expert said.
He said that prices for products for construction have grown by 12-17% monthly since the beginning of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. Prices were affected by the depreciation of the hryvnia, the loss of warehouses due to hostilities, the reduction in the number of employees of enterprises, problems with energy and logistics. Building materials in the EU have also risen in price due to an increase in demand for them after the lifting of quarantine restrictions.
According to Saliy, along with reduced demand and deteriorating logistics, the main problems of the industry are also the lack of state support in terms of reducing/eliminating taxes and fees for producers during the war and the recovery period, the unavailability of cheap and long-term loans or targeted grants for businesses, as well as the lack of interest-free loans for the population aimed at restoring damaged or destroyed housing.
