Year-on-Year

The year-on year growth rate of the Construction Materials Wholesale Price Index (CMWPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to drop as it registered a negative rate of 1.0 percent in July. In June, it declined by 0.4 percent but in July 2014, it rose 2.4 percent. The downtrend was primarily due to the further decreases in the annual rates of fuels and lubricants index at -17.1 percent and cement index, -0.8 percent. In addition, slower increments were noticed in the indices of plywood, lumber, G.I. sheet, glass and glass products, doors, jambs and steel casement, electrical works, plumbing fixtures and accessories and painting works. Meanwhile, higher growths were observed in sand and gravel index at 2.3 percent; concrete products index, 1.6 percent; hardware index, 2.0 percent; structural steel index, 1.0 percent; and tileworks index, 0.9 percent. The rest of the commodity groups retained their June rates with the machinery and equipment rental index posting a zero growth.

Month-on-Month

From a month ago level, wholesale prices of selected construction materials in NCR went down by 0.4 percent in July. This was attributed to the decreases in the monthly rates of fuels and lubricants index at -4.5 percent and cement index, -0.1 percent. Slower monthly gains were likewise seen in the indices of sand and gravel and plumbing fixtures and accessories at 0.2 percent. On the other hand, the concrete products index grew by 0.4 percent; hardware index, 0.2 percent; plywood index, 0.3 percent; and tileworks index, 0.5 percent. The other commodity groups either moved at their last month’s rate or had zero growth.

A series of price rollbacks was seen in gasoline and diesel. Prices of cement were also lower during the month. However, prices in plywood, lumber, tiles, gravel and some plumbing fixtures and accessories were on the uptrend.