Year-on-Year

The annual hike in the Construction Materials Retail Price Index (CMRPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) picked-up 1.2 percent in March from 0.7 percent in February. A higher annual gain was noted in the index of carpentry materials at 1.0 percent in March from 0.9 percent in February; electrical materials index, 1.1 percent from 0.8 percent; masonry materials index, 4.7 percent from 0.1 percent; and painting materials and related compounds index, 0.8 percent from 0.3 percent. On the other hand, annual declines were still recorded in the indices of plumbing materials at -0.5 percent from -0.1 percent and miscellaneous construction materials, -2.5 percent from -4.4 percent. The annual growth of tinsmithry materials index eased to 2.7 percent from 5.6 percent.

Month-on-Month

On a monthly basis, the CMRPI in NCR advanced 0.8 percent March from a 0.2 percent drop in February. The index of electrical materials increased by 0.4 percent in March from 0.1 percent in February; masonry materials index, 3.8 percent from -0.7 percent, painting materials and related compounds, 0.3 percent from 0.2 percent, tinsmithry materials index, 0.8 percent from -0.4 percent; and miscellaneous construction materials index, 1.6 percent from -2.8 percent. A lower monthly increment was however, seen in the index of carpentry materials at 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent while that for plumbing materials index fell by 0.2 percent from 0.1 percent growth.

Higher price quotations were generally observed in electrical wires and wiring devices, cement, gravel, sand, paints and related compounds, corrugated GI sheets, steel bars and plywood. Meanwhile, price reductions were noted in selected plumbing fittings.