Dear copper is starting to force home builders to save

Prague - The enormous increase in copper prices on the world markets in recent months is beginning to affect domestic consumers, particularly in construction. Experts expect that a significant portion of builders will switch to cheaper alternatives for copper this year, ČTK found out.
"In the construction sector, we expect our sales to drop by up to a third this year due to high prices," said Tomáš Řehoř, the sales director of the company Měď Povrly. This company is the dominant Czech manufacturer of rolled materials made from this metal, and since the beginning of the year, its prices have increased by approximately 40 percent.
Měď Povrly's production is oriented by more than half towards construction, and according to Řehoř, the company wants to offset the decline in domestic demand through exports. "We will focus more on the industrial sector and on countries with higher purchasing power," Řehoř stated.
In other sectors, such as electrical engineering or the automotive industry, the decline in interest is smaller and slower, as it is hard to find cheaper substitutes for copper. "High prices, especially of copper and silver, are very uncomfortable for us, but they have not yet had a significant impact on the prices of our products," informed Martina Herkusová from the electrical engineering company ABB.
The general director of the Association of Entrepreneurs in Construction Miloslav Mašek confirmed that people in smaller construction projects, such as family houses, have started switching to cheaper materials like plastics. "For those who count every crown, this approach definitely pays off. However, this situation has not yet occurred in large completed projects," Mašek stated. Copper is primarily used in the production of gutters and roofs.
His words are echoed by the head of the construction and development company Ekospol Evžen Korec. According to him, new apartments could become more expensive by a maximum of one percent due to the rise in copper prices. "Electrical wiring does not have such a share in the final price here. It will be worse for family houses, where costs could rise by tens of thousands of crowns," Korec added.
The price of copper on world markets has more than doubled since the beginning of this year, reaching up to 8,800 dollars per ton. However, it has started to decrease in recent days and today approached the threshold of 7,200 dollars.