Brick price soars 57.89pc in a year

Bricks are being piled at the site of an under construction building in Dhaka. The prices of the item now jump to Tk 60000 per thousand pieces.Photo: STAR

Real estate companies are now in a fix to go for new venture, as rising brick prices, they think, would have a negative impact on the housing sector, let alone making up for the losses they faced due to political turmoil during the last two years.
"It is difficult for us to mull new ventures as there is no guaranty that customers will be ready to buy flats at a high cost because of the rising prices of brick," an official of Building for Future Ltd, a real estate developer, told The Daily Star recently.
According to the housing industry insiders, prices of best quality bricks (gas burned) now range from Tk5000 and Tk 6000 per thousand pieces, which was Tk 3,500 to Tk3800 a year earlier, marking a 57.89 percent rise in the price.
Traditionally made bricks (coal burned) are selling at Tk4500 per thousand pieces, which was Tk3800 a year earlier.
The present rate will cost a developer Tk 1.50crore more, if the company's requirement of brick reaches one crore pieces a year.
Developers said sometimes they have to pay more as brick prices varied also due to transportation cost.
However brick manufacturers claimed that the reasons for the hike in prices of the item in a peak season are valid. Usually, the period between November and March is the peak season to produce brick.
The brick makers pointed out that unusual rainfall and cyclone Sidr badly have damaged a significant number of brick kilns across the country, resulting in the price hike.
M Saiful Islam, vice president of Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) foresees an adverse impact of such a hike in prices of an important construction material on the housing sector.
He sought government intervention in the construction materials market to keep the prices of those at a tolerable level.
REHAB statistics shows the developers on an average hand over 6,000 flats a year to clients. But the number of apartments handed over until the last week of December reached 2,000.
Per square foot price of a flat in Dhaka varied from Tk1,500 to Tk2,000 three years ago, whereas the rate now hovers between Tk 2,500 and Tk4,000 due to price hike of construction materials, according to the industry people.
The REHAB official said, "Now we are in dilemma, whether we buy low cost brick or adjust the brick prices for good quality apartment. We fear to lose customers."
Admitting the skyrocketing prices of brick, Maizuddin Ahmed, secretary general of Bangladesh Brick Manufacturers Association, explained that recent cyclone Sidr had badly damaged some brick kilns, which fueled the price.
He however expected a reduction in the prices of brick on normal resumption of operation of the brick kilns damaged during the recent cyclone.
Manwar Hossain, the owner of Brick Land at Gazipur area, said along with sand price, transportation cost also increased due to petroleum price hike, which also led to the brick price hike.
The country's 4700 brick kilns produce 940crore pieces per year and the demand for bricks increases by 20 percent a year, according to the brick makers' association.