Demand for bricks, one of the key construction materials, have gone up in Kathmandu Valley and major cities with rapid boom in construction over the years.

Cashing on the high demand, bricks manufactured in different Tarai districts have entered the market in Valley, considerably eroding the market share of brick kilns based in the Valley.

It seems that the kiln operators in the Valley no longer have competitive advantage in the bricks market in the Valley. Until a year before or so, local brick kilns used to meet most of the local demands. Today, they are facing stiff competition from brick kilns based in Tarai districts. The market share of brick kilns in Tarai districts was only about 10 percent about a few years ago. But today, market share of Tarai-based brick kilns has jumped to about 75 percent, according to brick depots in the Valley.

“There have been increasing demands for bricks manufactured in Tarai because of quality, strength and cost effectiveness,” said Dorji Lama, a contractor. “About 25 percent of bricks manufactured in Kathmandu break down while loading and unloading. But the figure is only about 5 percent in case of bricks manufactured in Tarai,” he added.

The quality and strength of bricks is largely determined by the raw material used. “The quality of clay used for brick production in Tarai district is better as compared to that of Kathmandu,” explained Rohit Gupta of Bibek Suppliers.

Kathmandu´s bricks also absorb a lot of water, which means they are of poor quality. “The bricks produced in Tarai have a reddish glow that indicates the strength of bricks due to maximum heating,” Gupta said.

If purchased in bulk, bricks from Tarai are relatively cheaper because they are about 1.25 times bigger in volume than bricks manufactured in Kathmandu, according to brick depots. While bricks manufactured in Kathmandu cost around Rs 7,000 to Rs 9,000 per 1,000 pieces, bricks manufactured in Tarai costs around Rs 7,500 to Rs 11,500 per 1,000 pieces.

However, Tarai bricks are larger in size and hence one will need less number of bricks as compared to bricks manufactured locally. Also when you buy bricks manufactured in Valley, you will get 5 percent broken bricks, which has been an agreed practice between buyers and sellers.

At present, about 20 percent of brick depots in the Valley sell bricks manufactured in Tarai districts. These depots have personal contact with manufacturers there.

“Earlier, only a few people used to bring bricks from Tarai. Now, quite a few depots have started supplying bricks manufactured in Tarai,” said Ajay Jha of Bibek Suppliers.

Kiran Kumar Rijal, owner of Kiran Dhuwani Sewa, said earlier it was not profitable to supply bricks from Tarai due to high transportation cost. “Now the situation is no longer the same as the price of bricks in Kathmandu has gone up due to rise in labor costs and price of coal,” Rijal added.

Despite rise in demands for bricks manufactured in Tarai districts, manufacturers based in Tarai districts are yet to open their depot here. Every day, 40 to 50 trucks (with 6,000 bricks per truck) laden with bricks manufactured in Tarai districts enter the Valley, according to Dahal. This translates into 7.2 million to 9 million bricks per month.

Not only Tarai districts, even bricks manufactured in Ganeshthan, Ratamate and Thanigaun VDCs in Nuwakot district have started finding markets in the Valley. Depot owners see great future for kiln operators in Nuwakot as they are supplying bricks that are as good as the ones manufactured in Tarai but at lower prices.

Courtesy: (ANG SANU LAMA, Myrepublica)