Mitigating Concrete Price Increase

 

Concrete has been proven to be the most marketable construction product worldwide. Concrete market however has become volatile due to increasing cost of energy that subsequently affect the cost of production, transportation, and other supply chain factors. All these contribute to the fast increasing concrete prices worldwide.

 

Rising concrete prices subsequently impacts all businesses and endeavors relying on concrete from suppliers, transporters, construction industry, contractors, and so on, trickling down the effect of concrete prices to individual build owners. Passing-on of concrete price increases from top to bottom cannot be avoided but that is one thing businesses try their best to avoid in order not to hamper relationships which is critical in a highly competitive market.

 

Concrete producers are finding ways to do mitigating measures to prevent the worsening of the consequential impacts of concrete price increases in the market, specifically:

 

1. Use of cheaper supplementary cementitious materials (SMCs).  Inclusion of slag and fly ash, whose cost is way lower than cement, as standard SMCs supplementary cementitious materials reduces cost of concrete production and subsequently concrete prices.

 

Pozzolan, metakaolin, and silica are also SMCs that offer similarly cost-saving opportunities. It can maintain the performance of concrete per project requirements with reduced cement inputs.

 

This measure also lessens the carbon footprint of the finished product, an ingenious way for concrete producers to hold onto their profit margins while reducing environmentally hazardous emissions.

 

2. Use of different concrete mixes for different applications. Use of lower-strength concrete on low-use structures and non-structural applications is cost-effective and environment-friendly.

 

3. Use of more economical water source and adopting more economical water-to-cement ratio mixes in areas where high strength is not required. This measure is very strategic amidst worsening water crises.

 

4. Implementation of Carbon Cure to help safely and comfortably optimize concrete mix designs. Carbon Cure refers to any innovative product that allows concrete producers to reduce their dependence on cement without sacrificing the strength or performance of their concrete mixes. Carbon Cure is also a stackable option, meaning it works with various blends including binary and ternary. Examples are:

·         Adding CO2 and reducing an average of 4-6% of cement while maintaining the mixes’ strength and quality.

·         Use of recycled materials in concrete mixes, such as reclaimed water, reduces production costs and achieve even further optimization and efficiencies.

 

5. Updating standard operating procedures in the production of concrete to reduce production cost and become more sustainable. Operational costs can be lowered by shifting approaches to less costly ones like investing in concrete technologies can help reduce labor costs, retain talent, and improve operational efficiencies while also increasing job site safety. Here are some areas where producers can look to invest in new equipment:

·         Concrete pumps for efficient material placement

·         Concrete mixers for improved productivity and versatility

·         Concrete finishing tools for efficient surface preparation

·         Concrete vibrators for faster consolidation

Another achievable measure is to launch protocols which prohibit the idling of vehicles, requiring lights not be left on unnecessarily to reduce energy output and costs; building and equipment upgrades like sealing cracks where heat might escape and use of more sustainable heating and cooling system.