Concrete Roof Tiles Production Down as Building Materials Costs Rise by a Fifth

BUILDING MATERIALS increased in price by 20.1% in July 2021 compared to 12 months ago, according to the latest month’s figures from BEIS for Building Materials and Components.

Meanwhile, production, deliveries and stocks of concrete roofing tiles were all reported remaining at lower levels for the second quarter of 2021 than for the first quarter of this year.

Production, Deliveries and Stocks of Concrete Roof Tiles

Production of concrete roof tiles fell from 6,080,000m² of roof covered in Q1, 2021 to 3,930,000m² in the following quarter – a decrease of over 35%.

Concrete roof tiles deliveries also fell in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter. The first three months of the year saw deliveries of 5,918,000m² of roof covered, dropping to 3,990,000m² in the second quarter – a decrease of 33%.

Stock levels remain at an all-time low at 1,658,000m² of roof covered. This compares to more than double that figure in the same quarter in 2019, pre-pandemic, of 4,293,000m².

Prices Rising

The aggregated construction material price index rise of 20% hides larger price movements for some products and materials. As for the previous month, plywood showed the biggest price increase, now running at 81.7% above prices in the past 12 months. This was followed by the highest risers of fabricated structural steel prices, up by 64.7% and imported sawn or planed wood, showing costs rising by 64.2%.

Sales of ready-mixed concrete increased by 4.7% in Quarter 2 2021 on the previous quarter and by 6.2% compared to pre-pandemic levels in Quarter 1 2020. Brick deliveries showed a 20.9% increase in July 2021 compared to July 2020.

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