Higher costs driving up concrete prices - supplier

A leading supplier of construction materials in Guernsey says islanders face high prices for some products due to the costs to make them.

Steve Roussel, manager at Ronez, which supplies aggregate, asphalt and concrete, said rising shipping and labour costs were headwinds faced by the business.

The States last week requested a review into the cost of island concrete products after initial investigations found some were "twice as high" as in the UK.

Guernsey's competition watchdog, which is conducting the review, said some builders had reported customers could no longer afford to have work carried out.

Mr Roussel said higher shipping and labour costs were factored into the price of some of its products.

He said island's "small market size and the smaller amount of material produced leads to higher unit costs", but added prices had risen yearly in line with inflation.

Michael Byrne, chief executive of the Guernsey Competition and Regulatory Authority, said the review would look at solutions to reduce costs.

"The building sector has been saying that demand has been falling and this is almost certainly because the cost and viability of investment," he said.

"Demand is dropping out and that is a development that is potentially affecting growth, because if people are not spending in capital investment, that speaks to things as an economy it would be good for us to solve."

In authorising the study, the Committee for Economic Development said it would show if prices were too high and how it could be addressed.

The review was brought as the States looks to see more new housing built in the island.

Economic Development President Deputy Neil Inder said: "With the development of housing being a key priority of the States, the prices of input products such as concrete and aggregates directly impact the cost of house building."

Several large firms in the island told the BBC demand remained buoyant despite higher costs.

Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to [email protected].