News
Building materials and hardware traders pounce in crisis
View(s):By Kapila Bandara
Retail traders of building materials and hardware have raised prices of a wide range of items at double-digit rates in some cases, taking advantage of the acceleration in energy prices and supply disruptions due to the war in West Asia.
Some traders are blunt about price escalation and boldly say there is no stock of some items, including natural aggregates such as crushed stone, and pointedly refuse to quote prices. Others quote sharply higher prices.
Asked this week about the price of 70 gauge (70 mm) aluminium for sliding windows, a trader who represents a market-dominating company run by a tycoon warned prices will rise.
Iran has bombed two of the biggest aluminium producers in the Gulf, including Emirates Global Aluminium, news agencies reported this week.
The price of a 50-kilo bag of cement, which households need, has jumped, and choice is unusually limited at some hardware stores. Cement is priced above Rs 2,100.
Inflated prices of materials turn the dream of building a 500 square foot house into a distant hope for the majority of Sri Lankans in their lifetime in a market dominated by oligopolies in wall and floor tiles and aluminium as well. From January 2021 to December 2022, prices of tile more than doubled during a national crisis.
There are three companies in the cement business. Anticompetitive behaviour in the building materials market is unchecked.
A pre-crisis sample price estimate generated from a building cost calculator for a 3 bed, 2 bath, no garage, 2,000 sq. ft. house is Rs 34.9m.
A square foot rate often quoted by builders is never an assured guide for actual cost.
Timber traders in Moratuwa — known for its carpentry workshops, furniture, and timber — see an opportunity for inflated prices, from generally used timber such as class II graded ginisapu (Michelia champaca) to super luxury class hardwoods such as teak (Tectona grandis), luxury grade jak (Artocarpus heterophyllus), and mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla).
At one large timber store, 3/4 inch teak was priced at Rs 1,500 per foot, and 3/4 inch jak was priced at Rs 920 plus.
In January, builders increased raw material purchases to store in warehouses, the Sri Lanka Purchasing Managers’ Index for Construction dated February 27 showed. It was published a day before Iran was attacked. The barometer reflects responses of the highest-graded construction companies registered with the Construction Industry Development Authority.
Builders who are circling for a slice of the Rs 630 billion-plus government contracts this year have complained themselves of exorbitant prices of materials.
Among the state contracts included in the Public Investment Plan 2026-2030 are hostels for university students, for which the National People’s Power government estimates Rs 26.62bn.
The National Construction Association of Sri Lanka head, Darinton Paul, has said if steel prices are raised by Rs 25,000 or Rs 30,000, “it is a mafia. Three cubes of sand now exceed Rs 150,000’’.
Smaller hardware items, too, are costlier.
Asked about a brass-plated barrel bolt, a small retailer in Ratmalana quoted Rs 585. Dodgy, one-inch concrete nails were quoted Rs 130 each.
As for aggregates, a woman operator of a hardware store in Rawathawatte quoted Rs 14,000 for a cube (100 cubic feet) of 3/4 inch crushed stone last week. It was selling for Rs 12,500 the week before. With a wry smile, she claimed scarcity.
A physically small-scale hardware and materials seller quoted Rs 8,500 for 1/4 cube of rough river sand this week. A family-operated trader in Moratuwa quoted Rs 9,000 for the same volume of sand, for which Rs 7,500 was quoted in the first week of March. That is a 20% price increase.
The price of steel has been revised higher by retailers and suppliers. Sixteen-gauge, 20-foot steel was quoted at Rs 3,125 for one brand and Rs 2,750 for another by one hardware store in Moratuwa.
A hardware merchant in Ratmalana quoted Rs 6,500 for 1.5 mm, 3×3 box bars, and Rs 7,700 for 3 mm box bars. In August 2025, the same store quoted Rs 5,700 for the 1.5mm box bars (the latest price represents an increase of more than 13%) and Rs 7,000 for the 3mm box bars.
One large-scale trader warned that the price of steel is bound to rise further. Some types of box bars were claimed to be not available at the moment.
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