Concrete arrogance: a campaign against illegal building materials has been launched in the Russian Federation

Due to the growing level of counterfeit and falsification, the authorities decided to begin an experiment in labeling building materials. If the Cabinet of Ministers decides to apply a special code, then, according to the Ministry of Finance Research Institute, the cost of labeling will be 50 kopecks per unit of packaging. Will building materials on the market become of better quality – in the material of Izvestia.

That's how they build it

According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the National Association of Manufacturers of Construction Materials and the Construction Industry, in By 2023, the share of counterfeit pipe products, dry construction mixtures increased to 30%, cement – to 21.3%. To control the market, from the end of last week until December 1, Russia launched an experiment on labeling certain types of building materials in packaging. Decree on this signed Prime Minister Mishustin.

Manufacturers of cement, concrete and construction dry mixes, as well as mortars will be able to take part in the experiment, which will take place on a voluntary basis. Its participants will also be importers of these building materials and wholesale and retail trade organizations. The experiment itself will be voluntary and free, all expenses will be borne by the operator of the labeling system, Izvestia was told at the Center for the Development of Advanced Technologies.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade expects that whitewashing the market will make it possible to identify entrepreneurs involved in shadow business and reducing the quality of goods. Labeling will create the opportunity to block corridors for the supply of illegal products, including imported ones, the press service of the ministry told Izvestia.

During 2023, for example, problems with Portland cement were recorded; there were violations of contractual obligations for the supply of this resource by manufacturers, which negatively affected its value. This data is provided by the National Association of Builders (NOSTROY).

“The dependence of the safety of a capital construction project on high-quality construction resources today reaches 60%,” notes Anton Solon, secretary of the commission on building materials of the Public Council under the Russian Ministry of Construction. — Changes in the indicators of building materials and their characteristics can cause collapse of structures and damage to building elements.

Lighten the burden

Expert of the public council under the Ministry of Construction Igor Prudnikov points out that For transparency of construction projects, it is necessary to improve not only control functions, but also the certification procedure – confirmation of compliance with the safety and quality indicators established in the standards.

President of the National Agency for Low-Rise and Cottage Construction (NAMIX), ex-adviser to the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Elena Nikolaeva told Izvestia that the introduction of the “Honest Sign” system by manufacturers is welcomed, as it eliminates unfair competition.

— But during the implementation of a digital solution, significant technical difficulties arisewhich, unfortunately, are resolved on the fly and not always promptly, creating pauses in the production or commercial process,” she added.

Chairman of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry Committee on Entrepreneurship in the Construction Sphere Efim Basin notes that Before the approval of the EAEU Technical Regulations on the safety of building materials and products, the labeling concept seems to be the most correct from the point of view of confirming product quality.

“When introducing labeling, it is necessary to ensure maximum protection for manufacturers of building materials from possible additional financial burden,” says Dmitry Panov, chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of Business Russia. “This will help prevent possible price overheating in the construction market in the future.

Will the quality of construction change?

The national association “Union of Concrete Manufacturers” believes that this issue must be approached in a differentiated manner: For example, for building materials sold at retail, identification may be of practical use in tracking goods from the manufacturer through the enterprise to the final consumer.

“And for concrete and other similar building materials, marking is of no practical use, since, for example, due to the nature of the production of concrete mixtures, counterfeit/falsified products are not typical for them,” the union believes.

According to the association's estimates, the mandatory marking procedure, which can be launched after the experiment, will likely increase the cost of building materials by the amount of the cost of purchasing special equipment for applying the code and is unlikely to significantly improve the situation in the fight against counterfeiting.

“As a result of the full introduction of labeling, the price of cement and cement-containing mixtures and solutions will increase,” predicts Roman Kuprin, Chairman of the EAEU PSM Association Council. — Although the main reason, most likely, will not be an objective increase in price due to labeling – it will add 1-3% to the cost – but rather a marketing effect, when the seller will not fail to sell “better quality” labeled cement at a higher price.

Andrey Pustovgar, scientific director of the Research Institute of Smith and Technology of the National Research University of Moscow State University, believes that the introduction of labeling is unlikely to lead to an increase in quality. Although, according to his estimates, on protection against counterfeit imports may be affected. But if we take into account that the level of imports for basic building materials is small (from 0.5 to 5%), then the effect of this innovation will be insignificant. It is possible to protect the market from low-quality foreign products through customs regulationhe believes.

“Of course, the initiative should have a positive impact on the quality of materials, although much will depend on how control is organized,” says Elena Mironova, director of the estimated pricing department of the Granel Group of Companies. “The measure will help weed out some of the products that do not meet the standards and will simplify the identification of products that do not meet the standards.

Roman Borisov, manager of the Union of Dry Construction Mixture Manufacturers, believes that the introduction of digital marking will not change the situation with the turnover of falsified and counterfeit products on the market. The problem is that the main volume of consumption of dry mixtures (about 60%) is direct supplies from manufacturers to construction sites, where the presence of a QR code on the packaging is not controlled and it is physically impossible to read it. Another uncontrolled channel is the trade in dry mixes on spontaneous and organized construction markets, where sales mainly take place without any documents in cash, and this is the main channel for the sale of counterfeit and counterfeit goods.

Build it and forget it

Vice-President of the Union of Moscow Architects, co-founder of the Mezonproekt architectural studio Ilya Mashkov explained to Izvestia that “in practice, counterfeit concrete, as a rule, cannot get to a construction site, because there is a construction laboratory at the construction site and every machine that brought concrete is checked “

— Therefore, I believe that it is necessary, rather, to tighten the standards for incoming control, says the expert. “They are working today, but some careless builders are violating them. In my opinion, labeling is more useful for food products, for individual use. Although it is obvious that the building materials market must be under control and transparent.

Especially All facade materials must be calculated and made taking into account high responsibility, he notes. “At the same time, as for structures, steel, concrete, all this is established, in this case there are few manufacturers – everything is predictable,” Mashkov noted.

Alexey Gorulev, head of the AMJ Group design bureau, is confident that After the introduction of construction markings, materials and products are unlikely to be of higher quality, but there may be fewer counterfeits.

“Marking will change the acceptance and delivery procedures: when the customer gets access to reports on the turnover of building materials, it will no longer be possible to hide a couple of cubes of brick in the reports,” said Gorulev.

Marketing Director of the Meridian production company Maxim Rukavishnikov notes that labeling will solve the problem of substitution of raw materials, track information about production batches of materials, and monitor the process of transportation and storage of building materials.

“Now there are many small companies on the market that make dry mixes, adhesives, grouts in garage conditions, and the quality of the raw materials they use is extremely low,” says Rukavishnikov. — Such local players buy branded bags and package low-grade and even hazardous materials.

Galina Sorokina, a professor at the Department of World Economy and International Economic Relations at the State University of Management, believes that after some period of adaptation, the innovation will take root in the construction industry, but it is not yet clear how this marking will work on large construction sites, where there will also be difficulties in identifying each final package of cement or dry construction mixtures.