Material prices in the UK have shot up again after months of gradual decrease, following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Timber was one of the hardest hit materials, seeing prices rise in March, according to statistics provided by the UK's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).<\/p>\n
The price of imported sawn or planed timber going up by 2.5 percent, following five months of steady decline. It was also 11 percent more expensive than it was in March 2021.<\/p>\n
Imported plywood also went up in price by 2.5 percent, and cost 28 percent more than in March 2021.<\/p>\n
Construction Products Association (CPA) economics director Noble Francis said it was \u201cunsurprising\u201d to see a sharp rise in timber prices as the impact of the war in Ukraine began to feed through to the sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though construction demand remains high, some specialist sub-contractors on fixed-price contracts signed up to 12 months ago will [be] badly affected, especially those working in construction sectors such as infrastructure, commercial new-build and cladding remediation that use large amounts of energy-intensive products,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The latest pressures come on top of a \u201cchallenging couple of years\u201d for subcontractors, with labour issues, material costs, increasing professional indemnity insurance and IR35 all taking effect, he added.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"