| Author(s) | Ibrahim A. Al-Hammad |
| Affiliation | Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O.Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia Email: alhammad@ksu.edu.sa |
| Title | Treatment of Reinforcing Steel Bars Prices Fluctuations |
| Source | Journal of King Saud University. Engineering Sciences. Volume 19, No 1. (2007/1427) |
| Abstract | Recently, the price of steel bars used in reinforced concrete construction have almost doubled within a year in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to various degrees. As a lead item of construction material, the sudden rise of steel rebar price has led to a fluctuation of other construction items prices such as cables, concrete, plasters and others. This rise in steel rebar prices is attributed to numerous economic factors among them: the rise of raw materials, increased global demand, increase of shipping and insurance costs. By and large, there is no consideration of the treatment of escalation of the construction costs quantitatively and contractually in the Arabian Gulf countries since their economies are heavily dependant on the oil price while experiencing a little and stable overall macro inflation. However, alarmingly the recent escalation of the steel bars has created several contractual disputes, claims and breach of contracts. This paper tracks the pattern of the steel bars prices for the last two years in Saudi Arabia and provides a mathematical model for predicting its future prices. Owners, design firms and contractors can use the developed tool to 1) predict future prices of steel rebar, and 2) to enforce contract provision related to compensating the contractor. |
