Tatarstan freezes prices for key building materials for a year
Cement and crushed stone producers have agreed, and metallurgical plants are next in line
An agreement has been reached in Tatarstan to freeze prices for key building materials for a period of one year, Realnoe Vremya found out. The preparation of this state support measure was previously announced by the head of the Russian Ministry of Construction, speaking at the board of the relevant ministry in Kazan. The largest producers of cement, crushed stone and other non-metallic materials in the republic have already expressed their consent. The issue is currently being worked out with other companies in the industry. Read the details in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
“We are ready to freeze the price for a whole year”
Tatarstan developers receive letters warning about the next increase in prices for building materials. These products in Russia have already risen significantly in price by the end of the year, much higher than inflation. In some key positions, the growth exceeded 20%. Under these conditions, the country's Ministry of Construction urges developers not to raise the cost of a square metre of housing, but to wait for new measures to support the industry — in the form of freezing prices for building materials. It turned out that the first steps in this direction have already been taken.
An agreement has been reached with manufacturers of building materials within Tatarstan. And so far only for a number of items (cement, non-metallic and inert materials), the parliamentarian clarified: “This is for the republic, I can't say for the whole country yet. We always conduct all pilots in the republic first. Now we are looking at how to fix this, there is still a question about the railway. The most important thing is that it doesn't let us down, and all these deliveries take place on time so that the monthly volumes that everyone claims reach everyone.” Price freezes are also being negotiated for other building materials.
“We are working on metal, we are communicating now. I think we will work on four key positions— cement, inert materials, metal and cable products, which showed the largest increase in cost in the previous year. We are agreeing to fix prices for a year, until December 31, 2025. And every year from December to next year, we will hold contests between manufacturers to determine who will give the best price for cement, crushed stone, and inert materials, who will be able to provide these volumes and fix the price," explained Wolfson.
According to him, it is about fixing prices not necessarily at the current level, they may be lower, depending on the proposals of the manufacturers themselves. The freezing of prices for building materials should be exclusively voluntary. “We already have an offer for concrete, and now, against this background, the price has been reduced by 200-300 rubles from the cube. If there is a clear pricing policy for inert materials and cement, then concrete producers are also ready to fix their prices," the deputy added.
“Letters began to arrive with a warning about a 5-12% price increase”
In the industry, this decision is called timely, since a new increase in prices for building materials is predicted from the beginning of spring — they may rise in price by another 15-20%. The increase is attributed to increased costs for logistics and energy resources. An additional factor will be the introduction of mandatory labelling of building materials this year. Manufacturers will have to purchase equipment for applying digital codes and monitoring the movement of goods. All this will affect the final cost of products, so fixing prices for building materials can support builders, market participants believe.
However, the CRPT, the operator of the state marking system Honest Mark, holds a different opinion:
“According to the calculations of the National Research University of Higher School of Economics, the impact of labelling per a unit of production is estimated at no more than 0.3% of the cost or 42 kopecks without taking into account the cost of the labelling code. Moreover, labelled goods grow in price much more slowly than non-labeled ones — manufacturers know they are under control and keep prices down. Given the low production speeds, the cost of labelling building materials will amount to negligible fractions of a percent of the cost. In addition, free software services Markirovka Prosto, the Chestny Znak Business mobile application, and the free EDO Light document management service have been developed for small manufacturers. All this will make it possible to implement labelling with minimal costs.”
Tatarstan developers generally welcome the initiative to voluntarily freeze the cost of building materials.
According to the developer, materials rose significantly in price last year, and growth continued at the beginning of this year: “Yes, starting on January 20, letters began to arrive warning of another price increase of an average of 5% to 12%. For everything from aluminum to silicate bricks, they said there would be a significant price increase.”
Other developers also confirm the sharp increase in the cost of products, therefore, they generally support the idea of fixing prices for building materials.
“We also produce high-quality materials”
Earlier, the initiative to freeze prices for building materials was announced by Minister of Construction of Russia Irek Fayzullin, speaking at the board of the Ministry of Construction of the Republic of Tatarstan in Kazan. He acknowledged that without massive preferential mortgages and in conditions of prohibitive market rates, the purchasing power of Russians in the housing market has significantly decreased. Therefore, according to him, new support tools have begun to be prepared for the industry. “I appeal to my fellow developers — do not change prices upward! The support measures that we will be implementing are related to that we are asking for prices to be frozen. Today, together with manufacturers and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, we are working on issues, including the voluntary freezing of the cost of construction resources," he said.
According to him, the task ahead is serious, it must be under constant control. At the same time, the industry is actively switching to Russian construction resources. The construction companies themselves are talking about this.
“The cost of work per cubic metre of monolith has increased a lot — work, materials. We are now mostly purchasing Russian-made materials in order not to depend on the exchange rate and to support our manufacturer. Now we also produce high-quality materials and equipment. So far, there is no replacement for elevator equipment, we are tied to the rate here," Elvira Gubaidullina clarified.
Amid a sharp decline in sales of new buildings and the launch of new projects, the Russian building materials market is also expected to decline. The National Association of Manufacturers of Building Materials and the Construction Industry (NOPSM) believes that construction volumes will decrease in 2025-2026 due to an increase in the share of overstocked market from the current 50-55% to 65%. In the field of building materials production, the analysts of the association gave the following forecast: the market volume by the end of 2024 amounted to 3.7 trillion rubles (price increase of 14-25%), for 2025 — 3.5 trillion rubles (price increase of 18-20%).
