Guadalajara, Jalisco. The rise in the price of energy and supplies in general, complicates the outlook for the construction industry in Jalisco.
The president of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC) in the state, Carlos del Río Madrigal, indicated that, from 2019 to date, steel products increased their value by up to 120%, a situation that forced some builders to modify their constructive models to continue with their projects.
“The disruption of the supply chains has caused atypical increases in some materials and now adding this issue of the increase in energy has had an impact,” said the leader of the builders in the entity.
“In one year, we have a 20% increase in general in construction materials; reality is sky high. Even the workforce, with the adjustments that were made at the beginning of the year, we have had an increase of 8%”, he pointed out.
The president of CMIC explained that given the constant variations in the price of inputs, it is difficult to make a forecast for the industry for the rest of the year.
“Predicting what is going to happen is practically impossible; energy prices rise and fall drastically from one day to the next. These are times of great uncertainty”, stressed the industrialist.
He anticipated that the projection is that the increase in fuels will continue in the coming months, which “would affect considerably since it would cause a higher inflation in materials.”
As explained by the business leader, the increase in the price of fuel affects urban public works more, while the rise in steel mainly affects the building sector.
Women
Within the framework of the month of women, the president of CMIC Jalisco commented that currently, 12% of the companies in the sector affiliated with the chamber are run by women.
He explained that of the 136,000 jobs that the industry had registered as of last February, 21,000 are women, which represents a 15 percent share.
This figure positions Jalisco in fourth place nationally in relation to the participation of women in the construction sector, after Mexico City, the State of Mexico and Nuevo León.
producer inflation
During February, the 46 cities considered by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) presented growth in the producer price index referring to residential construction; in fact, the lowest rate was in Mérida, at 7.60% per year.
In Guadalajara, this indicator reached 12.73%, which meant registering 14 consecutive months with double-digit increases.