Both steel and cement are two of the main materials in the construction industry that have been impacted internationally and nationally during 2020 and so far in 2021.

In the case of steel, the reasons for the increase are multiple since this industry faces one of the most significant increases in recent years affecting international markets and the Mexican market.

According to Canacero in his Radiography Report of the Steel Industry in Mexico 2021, our country ranked 15th as a steel producer worldwide in 2020, with a production of 16.8 million tons reflecting a contraction of 17.8% with respect to the record figure reached in 2018.

According to the chamber, after the market decline as a result of the pandemic during the first half of 2020, the demand for steel during the second half of 2020 and what has elapsed in 2021 increased significantly, exceeding the speed of recovery in the World production.

For this reason, inventories in the value chain reached very low levels, which impacted international costs, together with the inability for the rest of the producing countries to compete in prices and production with China.

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In this sense, under the premise of the equilibrium of supply and demand, prices tend to increase due to the lower supply of the goods demanded.

According to a review by El Financiero at the end of June 2021 in Mexico, the increase in the cost of construction reached 25 percent in the value of real estate and works under construction, motivated by the increase of around 40 percent in steel prices. , added to the rise of about 12 percent in the costs of supplies such as cement, concrete, plaster and PVC.

In the specific case of the cost structure of industrial buildings, this impact becomes decisive since more than 50 percent of the total investment in this construction typology is concentrated in steel.

This material is the main input, of items such as foundations, structures, walls and roofs, as indicated by the CCIMA Group company that carries out the construction of industrial parks in Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Guadalajara and Mérida, where the impact on your costs could be up to 25 percent.

Jesús Sandoval Armenta, CEO of Ruba, told El Financiero that the increase in the price of steel is unprecedented with an increase of up to 40 percent in the costs of castles, wire rod, rebar and structures and between 4 and 12 percent. percent for other materials such as concrete, cement, and glass.

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Cement, for its part, already raised its prices 5 percent only during the first half of 2021, when inflation in general increased 3.4 percent.

The increase in fuel prices and the growing demand for infrastructure in the United States will continue to pressure for the continued increase in demand, which is why increases in prices could be expected in the remainder of 2021 and 2022.

So far from January to August 2021, the gross national demand is concentrated at 44.5% in three markets such as Mexico City, Monterrey and Ciudad Juárez.

It is in Mexico City where the highest price increase of almost 5% has been registered so far in 2021, according to Solili, to close in August 2021 with $ 5.6 dollars per square meter per month. This market still exhibits a healthy vacancy close to 4.7%.

Other markets such as Monterrey, Tijuana, Guadalajara, Reynosa and Ciudad Juárez report prices with an upward trend, especially in projects that are under construction, this derived from the increase in inputs for the construction of industrial buildings.

If they continue with the current trend, industrial rental prices could have increases of between 10 and 15% for the following year.