The provincial building-materials exhibition-2023 took place at May Day Stadium in Pyongyang from November 21 to 30.

The exhibition, held on the theme of “Usher in a new era of rural development by means of our building materials”, was aimed at sharing and exchanging the successes and experience each province attained in the course of the drive for ensuring domestic production of building materials and improving the quality of finishing materials in accordance with its regional characteristics true to the Workers’ Party of Korea’s idea of attaching importance to cities and counties and its line on strengthening them and the programme for the rural revolution in the new era set forth by the Party, and at opening up a turning point in local construction, rural construction.

The show proceeded by way of summing up the on-site confirmation and evaluation by each provincial preparatory committee for the exhibition, the appraisal by experts and that by the masses to assess relevant building materials production bases’ contribution to the construction of projects of national importance, local construction and rural construction, their solutions to scientific and technological problems arising in the domestic production and recycling of building materials and their establishment of production processes appropriate for environmental protection.

On display at the event were building materials practically conducive to increasing the production of building materials based on locally available raw materials, improving their quality and diversifying finishing materials in terms of shape, kind and colour.

All the exhibits, including various kinds of cement, bricks and blocks, different types of stone and wood and metal building materials, paints, and waterproof and damp-proof building materials, drew the attention of the visitors as they were all based on domestic raw materials and many of them were those made by dint of recycling.

According to Ri Chol Nam, chairman of the Pyongyang Municipal Committee of Science and Technology, Pyongyang Municipality presented more than 5 000 pieces of products in 280-odd kinds, which are of high quality.

The high-alumina fire bricks exhibited by the Pyongyang Adiabatic Fireproof Materials Production Station were made by mixing locally available alumina with various additives. They are stable even at a high temperature of over 1 000℃, so they can be used for various furnaces of industrial establishments as well as kitchen ovens of rural houses. The introduction of the bricks at the Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex, Pyongyang Ceramic Factory and other units enabled them to save electricity by 75 percent as compared to when they had used the previous fire bricks.

The Pyongyang Communications Machine Factory presented the expansion vermiculite decorative wallboard, which is widely used as a functional building material and green building material in the 21st century in the construction sector for its various functions such as thermal insulation, humidity control, sound absorption, resistance against fire, air clearing, anionic emission, far-infrared radiation and radioactivity shielding. The product, certified by the State Quality Test Agency, is being favourably commented upon by the units using them.

The booth of North Hamgyong Province was also spectacular.

Ri Nam, section chief of the North Hamgyong Provincial People’s Committee, said that the province presented more than 2 000 pieces of products in over 180 kinds to the exhibition, adding that in particular, coloured mortar, coloured roofing tiles and expanded perlite heat insulating material produced by the Chongjin Slate Factory and coating materials for interior and exterior, decorative paints and functional paints by the Chongjin City Public Building Repair Company were popular among the visitors.

Ri Hyok, technical instructor of the Chongjin Slate Factory, said that liquid coloured mortar material is more effective in chromatic dispersion when it is mixed with ordinary mortar than coloured powder mortar material.

He said that the expanded perlite heat insulating material indispensable for gas liquefaction process is made with locally available raw materials and that it is very light, weighing 50kg per one cubic metre, and wide in application range at a temperature between -170°C and 1 000°C. The heat insulating material also can be used as a substrate for soilless plant cultivation in hydroponic greenhouse, which is said to cause no fertilizer leakage and make it possible to save a large amount of water.

In the run-up to the exhibition, North Hwanghae Province modernized its building-materials production bases and all its cities and counties made products that suit their regional characteristics to put them on show.

For example, the Sariwon Sanitary Ware Factory upgraded all its production processes and buildings to become models of the whole country and now produces sanitary ware, tiles and so on as much as it wants.

According to Hwang Song Jun, senior staffer of the Sariwon City People's Committee, the province is self-sufficient in tile, paint, waterproof material and various other finishing materials necessary for the construction of rural houses.

Such proud boasts were also heard at the booths of Jagang, Kangwon and all other provinces.

The visitors to the exhibition said in unison that through the exhibition they keenly felt once again the might of the country’s building-materials industry which reliably guarantees the rural development in the new era under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

The schedule of the exhibition included visits to the Pyongyang Building-materials Factory, Mirim Colour Roofing Tile Factory and so on and lectures on paint and waterproofing agent, coloured mortar and plastic building materials given by experienced scientists and technicians.