Real estate project owners are staring at higher costs following a demand-driven 50 per cent increase in global steel prices, amid supply chain disruptions in India and China caused by Covid-19.
Steel is a vital component in the building industry, used to make roofing sheets, reinforcement bars, steel beams and columns, windows and doors, among other products. Thus, any upward change in its price means higher cost of projects.
Data from the London Metal Exchange, the centre for industrial metals trading, shows that the price of a tonne of steel bars has risen from Sh40,000 in April 2020 to Sh81,000 this week.
In its 2021 January-June Status of the Built Environment Report, the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) said the price of a kilo of construction metal here has risen to Sh125 from Sh85 last December.
