The pandemic has had an impact on a lot of different industries and construction is among one of those. But this material crisis started before the pandemic hit, there have been trade tensions around the world for a while now and the pandemic only worsened the situation for a lot of people. We have seen that there have been serious tensions between two key supplier and buyers namely China and the US. A lot of construction businesses have been affected by this tension.
This crisis started in the summer of last year. We saw that there was a huge disruption in the industry that eventually led to the material prices escalating. We also saw that there was a shortage of material supply in the industry. Now in the construction industry, material shortage is quite a big issue, it makes construction work difficult for contractors and businesses. We saw that as the year progressed the problems only worsened. The problems that arose due to this shortage of supply and inflated prices caused quite a disruption in construction industry. There are a lot of different factors that actively contribute towards making the whole situation into what it is now.
Shortage of Overseas Material
A lot of items that are shipped from overseas have seen a huge supply shortage throughout the year. All the material that is acquired from Far East Asian Countries and Europe have significantly jumped prices resulting in shortage of material. The price jump for timber has been over 100% and we have seen lead items have also been impacted by the inflation.
Consistent Demand for Material
There are a lot of construction projects lined up which means that the demand for material is consistent. With clients waiting to have their projects completed the intensity of the demand continues to be pushing the market to source out materials. This has had an impact globally on the construction material market, because now everything is faced with new charges. Now we see that heavy equipment sales aren’t the only thing stressing out contractors, but material costs have also become a supreme concern.
Market Changes
For construction industry these last few years have been quite a test, with one problem arising one after another. Which basically means that the situation of the market is such that you have no idea of what will happen in the near future. All the forecasts of the industry have been for nothing, and now the question of what the future of construction is, isn’t something that can be predicted easily. Now the biggest concern of contractors isn’t finding reasonable hydraulic cranes for sale but instead whether they will be able to acquire the necessary material for the project. The prediction now is that the increase in material costs is going to continue. Recent predictions have suggested that there could be a 15% rise in material costs within the next five years. But the demand for material is not going down and it is making it more difficult for contractors to keep up with the rising prices and continuous demands.
But despite the ongoing crisis businesses have to keep moving and working. We can only hope that the industry will recover from this crisis just as well as it has from all the others it has faced over the years.
