Inflation puts pressure on the construction industry in Querétaro

Queretaro, Qro. The behavior of inflation continues to pressure the state construction industry, which in the first half of the year accounts for an 18.4% increase in the price of materials, said the president of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC) local, Óscar Hale Palacios.

The projection of the sector is that the inflationary rise stabilizes until the end of 2023; the accumulated figure for the first half of 2022 already exceeds the 17% increase with which they closed last year, he explained.

“We have 18.4% inflation in materials so far this year and it will surely continue, until it stabilizes at the end of next year. Unfortunately we are already prepared for this, because since last year we had an inflation of 17 percent (…) We already know what prices we have to consider in the medium term, in the long term it is difficult, “he added.

The state leader of CMIC trusted that at the end of 2022 the rising price of materials do not exceed 18% per year. However, the effects of the war in Europe have begun to have an impact, since Ukraine is one of the suppliers of steel profiles.

“However, the impact of the war (…) especially the manufacture of steel profiles that were produced in Ukraine, is already having this effect. The advantage is that it has gone down to steel a little bit,” he pointed out.

Likewise, he trusted that the federal government can maintain the fuel subsidy, otherwise the sector would also suffer.

Before the entry into force of three environmental taxes for next year, including that related to waste storage, the president of CMIC stated that the management of these is not only the responsibility of the sector, but also of its clients, unions and the government.

“The banks of the materials have to be responsible for the proper management and, above all, to return to nature itself what we have been affecting, it is not a tax that should be reflected in the prices, that is the great complexity It’s a super thin line,” he said.

Hale Palacio declared that the sector is in favor of sustainability, but is against inflation and the imposition of new taxes.

The increase in construction costs, he added, also affects the fact that low-cost housing is not being built in the state.

“We are committed to sustainability, but we are against inflation and the imposition of new taxes (…) but we are going to continue adding so that this issue does not become something that affects the people of Queretaro, in the sense of the gap , especially in social housing”, he highlighted.

Only in the city of Querétaro the National Producer Price Index (INPP), in residential construction, reported an annual increase of 11.74% in June; particularly in materials, the rise is 13.74% per year.

estados@eleconomista.mx