Year-on-Year

The annual increment of the Construction Materials Retail Price Index (CMRPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) slowed down to 1.7 percent in March 2017. It picked up by 2.2 percent in February 2017 and 0.8 percent in March 2016. Except for miscellaneous construction materials index which retained its previous month’s growth of 1.0 percent, all the commodity groups posted slower annual mark-ups in March 2017. (Table 2)

• Carpentry Materials (0.8%)
• Electrical Materials (1.6%)
• Masonry Materials (2.2%)
• Plumbing Materials (2.5%)
• Tinsmithry Materials (1.0%)
• Miscellaneous Construction Materials (6.3%)

Month-on-Month

The CMRPI in NCR went up by 0.2 percent in March 2017. A zero growth was observed in the previous month. The miscellaneous construction materials index registered a higher increase of 0.9 percent during the month. Moreover, from negative rates recorded in February 2017, the indices of painting materials and related compounds rose by 0.3 percent and tinsmithry materials, 0.1 percent. On the other hand, the indices of carpentry materials and plumbing materials both went down by 0.1 percent. The indices of electrical materials and masonry materials posted zero growth during the period. (Table 3)

Upward adjustments were seen in the prices of electrical wires, PVC pipe, paints, G.I. sheets and steel bars in March 2017. However, price decreases were noted in plywood, common wire nails, hinges and G.I. pipes.