Whoever realizes a housing project depends on the availability of sufficient building materials. The raw material gravel is needed for the production of concrete and is therefore very important for residential construction. However, gravel supplies in Germany are scarce and prices are high. This is because the occurrence and extraction of gravel is much lower than the actual demand. The study "Gravel - the most important domestic raw material" by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) illustrates the supply bottlenecks of gravel and other natural rocks in Germany.
Whether fine gravel, medium gravel or coarse gravel, the applications of gravel are diverse. In addition to the construction industry, the raw material is also used, for example, in gardening and landscaping or in road construction. If we look at the production of concrete, which is essential for the construction industry, we find that gravel is even more important than sand or quartz sand. This is because among the aggregates used in concrete production, the share of sand is about 35 percent, while the share of gravel or chippings from crushed natural stone is 65 percent.
According to the BGR, the first supply bottlenecks occurred as early as 2016 in Hamburg in the road construction sector. Two years later, in 2018, the bottlenecks in gravel extraction also spread to the construction industry (building construction) in the Ruhr area and other regions. The consequence was that larger construction companies could no longer be realized in some cases. In order to extract gravel, sufficient extraction sites are needed. But this is precisely where the problem lies, because not enough areas suitable for approval are made available for raw material extraction and designated by the regional planning authorities. In addition, the approval procedures for opening new gravel pits are costly and lengthy and slow down gravel extraction.
Source: BGR
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