Building materials are back on the New York exchange
The US exchange had run out of every basic building material and of road fuel. All eight materials and Gasoline are stocked again — and priced above what they cost to produce, so building them yourself is now worth doing.
The New York exchange sold out of its opening stock of building materials back in June and never restocked. Concrete, Steel, Bricks, Glass, Insulation, Plumbing, Electrical Wiring and Roofing Materials were all unavailable at any price, which is why US construction had stalled. Road fuel had run out too.
All of them are stocked again, and Gasoline is listed at the standard road-fuel price.
Prices have gone up, on purpose. The old opening stock was priced below what the materials actually cost to manufacture — Bricks were listed at 2.00 when a brick works cannot make them for under 9.63. That is pleasant while it lasts, but it means nobody can ever profitably produce those materials, so when the opening stock runs out, nothing replaces it. Which is exactly what happened.
The new stock is priced above production cost. A player running a brick works, a steel mill or a cement plant can now undercut the exchange and take that market — and the stock is deliberately finite, so eventually somebody will have to.