The building materials industry is a particularly promising niche for Polish companies investing in Ukraine and exporting to this market.
The destruction of the Ukrainian urban fabric caused by the ongoing war is dramatically increasing the demand for building materials. Due to the urgent need to rebuild homes, schools, hospitals and other public facilities, a significant part of investments in this sector is already being carried out, despite the persistence of the danger associated with hostilities.
In many segments of the building materials industry, Ukrainian production capacity is insufficient or even non-existent.
This applies, for example, to window glass, a material that is extremely important in the face of rocket fire on infrastructure and civilian facilities. Window glass is not produced at all in Ukraine, and until the full-scale invasion, 75% of all supplies came from the aggressor countries – Russia and Belarus. The state news agency Ukrinform estimates in its analysis that Ukraine's current needs for window glass alone amount to 27 million m².
The situation is not much better with metal structures (due to the destruction of key plants in the east of the country), roofing materials (significant dependence on imports from China), bricks, and cement, which is produced in the country twice less than the expected needs for reconstruction.
The war is significantly affecting the prices of construction materials, especially steel and cement, whose prices have risen sharply due to energy instability and disruptions in supply chains.
It is estimated that the total value of the demand for construction materials estimated in the context of the reconstruction of Ukraine at $100 billion.
This opens great opportunities for Polish manufacturers, both in terms of investment and export. Polish production plants are already operating in Ukraine, offering products from the construction industry. An example is Barlinek, a manufacturer of floor panels, with a plant in Winnica. The paint manufacturer Śnieżka has its factory in Yavoriv in the Lviv region. Cersanit, a manufacturer of ceramic tiles and bathroom equipment, фдіщ has large production plant in Zviahel, Zvytomyr Oblast. Polimex Mostostal is the owner of the Chervonograd Steel Construction Plant, which is one of the largest manufacturers of steel structures in the Western Ukraine.
Some of the Polish investments have experienced serious problems because of the war.
The factory of the roof window manufacturer Fakro in Lviv was damaged by Russian missiles, which caused the burning of 5,000 m² of production halls. The owner announces that the destroyed plant will be reinvested and will gain modern production lines. The plant of Grupa Kęty's leading aluminium processing plant in Borodianka near Kyiv, one of the places occupied and most heavily damaged by the Russians in the first wave of aggression, also experienced temporary difficulties.
