Monopoly and speculation in the market of construction materials

Nedvizhimost17-10-2007 Monopoly and speculation in the market of construction materials How to deal with ever-rising prices for construction materials? On this issue since the beginning of the year are scratching their heads of construction companies and officials of different levels. According to the Federal State Statistics Service in January 2007, the same cement went up by almost 70%. Large construction companies complain that barely make ends meet, and small - that generally operate at a loss. Existing conditions simply force them to raise prices. October 11, the State Duma of Russia at a meeting on regulation of prices of building materials, the first deputy general director of Glavmosstroy Larisa homestead, drew attention to the problem of reducing not only the profitability of construction companies, but also the wages of their employees. Construction materials producers themselves say the rise in prices quite reasonable. So in July of this year's public relations director of Eurocement Group Sergei Meshcheryakov suggested that the reasons for the rise in prices for the products of cement plants are objective in nature: "It's the rise in prices for raw materials, equipment, sustained and substantial rise in the cost of services of natural monopolies, the components in the cost of cement, more than 60%. For example, this year's gas price increased by 15%, electricity by 12.4%, the slag, which is widely used in the manufacture of cement, four times, the metal twice and so on. "