The rise in the prices of construction materials in Cuba, announced on Saturday in the official press, has caused desperation to spread among the population, who already had almost impossible not only to build, but only to repair the battered houses that invade the island. .
The news has been accompanied by the reminder that there are installment sales and construction loans, but not many can have access to these payment methods.
“The costs and expenses of the productions have grown significantly, especially due to the high costs of importing components and the high prices of freight,” says the press in line with the resolution, dated April 20.
The Government indicates that “most of them [los materiales]including cement and steel bars, which are high-impact elements in the construction materials program, maintain their approved retail price in the previous year”. The products that do not rise are precisely the ones that have disappeared practically for sale in Cuban pesos or have been reserved for victims of hurricanes or tornadoes.
The increases reach very high levels, as in the case of the 55-gallon tank, which grows 368% compared to last year, the 40×40 cm tile, which rises 300%, the concrete blocks 66% or a small sink , more than 41%
However, it does not mention the many that go up, such as concrete blocks, tiles, bathroom pieces, sand and various types of tiles, which are highly required in the works that are carried out. Some increases, as the economist Pedro Monreal has pointed out, are greater than 50%.
The increases reach very high levels, as in the case of the 55-gallon tank, which grows 368% compared to last year, the 40×40 cm tile, which rises 300%, the concrete blocks 66% or a small sink , more than 41%.
The expert considers that the measure is inseparable from the decline of the industry in Cuba, which has seen some of its key products almost disappear. Monreal accompanies his observation with a graph with data from the National Statistics Office (Onei) in which an epic collapse of some products can be seen.
The graph illustrates the ups and downs of the production of various materials on the base 100 fixed in 1985. From there the fall is lethal. That same product is now at 28, terrazzo tiles (the least affected) at 36, mud bricks at 5.3 and cement, which is so in demand, at 31.
“The low supply of construction materials has worsened in Cuba in the last 10 years. The decapitalization of the industry and its low production scale limit linkages and restrict productivity, which inflates its costs in the event of a peso devaluation” , adds Monreal in another graph on the last ten years.
The official press had already warned months before of the “need” to increase the prices of construction materials in the current context. At the end of last year, Escambray warned of the cement crisis, when the director of the Siguaney Cement Company, in Sancti Spíritus, said that Cuba usually produced 1,500,000 tons of this material and in 2021 it was not expected to reach a million. The official then revealed that they were being ordered to sell in MLC to capture foreign currency.
“Will the bank have enough money to lend it to me alone? Look at this for example: Jaspe Mosaic 20 x 20 cm per unit 18 pesos. And it’s not granite, it’s a simple and modest floor”
“We have received the indication to sell a lot of cement in MLC and, although it seems contradictory, it is a good business for the country. Before, this input was exported and sold a ton for a little more than 50 dollars, and where was it built? Outside of the Cuban borders,” he justified.
Cubans will continue, therefore, to live poorly in their precarious houses, since the scarcity of materials is added, consequently, to the unattainable price.
Some users have cried out against the new resolution, adding that it is impossible to pay not only what the desired product costs, but also labor. Although some users have pointed out the importance of resorting to loans, there is no shortage of people who remember the abusive interests or the number of Cubans who, due to their low salary, cannot afford to access credit.
“Will the bank have enough money to lend it to me alone? Take a look at this for example: Mosaic Jaspe 20 x 20 cm, the unit costs 18 pesos. And it’s not granite, it’s a simple and modest floor. Taking simple accounts, one square meter of floor It would take 25 slabs that would be 450, for a simple room of 3×3 meters, 9 square meters, it would be 4,050. Imagine how much it would be then for the entire floor of an average house,” calculates one commentator.
“I am not going to refer to prices, but to the following question: where are the construction materials? At least in the Guanajay municipality, Artemisa province, if you don’t have a subsidy, forget about building, and it is assumed that if you haven’t changed, that the money from the subsidies came from 40% of the sales of the materials to the population. In my case I have a construction license since 2018 and never, read carefully, never since 2019 have I been able to buy even a sack of cement and least one strip of rebar,” protests another.
According to the latest population and housing census available, from 2012, only 53% of homes in Cuba are prepared to face adverse weather events, those with cement roofs. Most are now covered with metal sheeting, which does not withstand the inclement weather as well.
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