Price of cement, steel on the decline after a year

Provides some relief to builders, common man

Aurangabad, Dec 23:

After an initial rise, the prices of cement and steel, an important component of construction materials, have been declining since the last two weeks. Cement prices fell by Rs 50 per quintal and steel prices fell by Rs 500 per quintal. Builders in the city said rates would remain stable for the next dew days.

Rising prices of cement, steel, sand bricks and other materials after the lockdown had created problems for the construction sector. With the skyrocketing prices of fuel, construction costs had risen at least by 15 per cent. As a result, in the last one year, citizens had to wait for the prices to come down.

However, now the prices of construction have come down giving a relief to the common man and builders. The price of steel has come down by Rs 4-5 per kg. Steel that was selling for Rs 62-65 per kg is now selling at Rs 53-55 per kg. A bag of cement has been reduced by Rs 40 to Rs 50. A sack that was being sold at Rs 410 is now priced at Rs 370 to Rs 380. The price of sand is stable at Rs 5,200 a brass and rubble at Rs Rs 3,400.

Bricks, cement blocks get expensive

With the majority of construction material getting cheaper, the prices of bricks and cement building blocks are touching the sky. There is an increase of Rs 1000 after every thousand bricks. The price of cement blocks have increased by Rs 10 per block. The price of a 4-inch cement block has gone up from Rs 38 to Rs 48, a 6-inch block from Rs 58 to Rs 68 and a 9-inch block from Rs from Rs 110 to Rs 120.

Not much difference

Even though the prices of cement and steel have come down, the cost of sand and rubble has not changed. Cement blocks and bricks have gotten expensive. The cost of labor and transportation have remained the same. Thus there is no major change in the construction cost, said Sagar Wankhede, builder.

No relief for builders

A few days ago, the price of bricks in the city was Rs 5,000 per thousand. Now it has gone up to Rs 6,000-6500. This has not provided much relief to the builders, said Nitin Bagadiya, builder.