Year-on-Year

The year-on-year change in the Construction Materials Wholesale Price Index (CMWPI) in NCR improved to 1.2 percent in March from 2.0 percent in February. The annual rate in the index for fuels and lubricants further went down to 5.5 percent in March from -2.6 percent in February. Moreover, slowdowns were noted in the indices of the following commodity groups during the month: sand and gravel (3.0% from 4.3%); concrete products (2.0% from 2.6%); cement (5.7% from 6.3%); hardware (1.9% from 2.5%); plywood (1.8% from 2.1%); lumber (4.1% from 4.5%); G.I. sheet (0.9% from 1.6%); reinforcing steel (3.3% from 3.6%); structural steel (2.6% from 3.3%); doors, jambs and steel casement (1.2% from 1.7%); electrical works (2.7% from 3.6%); painting works (1.1% from 1.5%); and PVC pipes (0.9% from 1.4%). The indices for glass and glass products and asphalt moved at their respective last month’s rates of 0.9 percent and 3.9 percent while the annual growth in machinery and equipment rental index was zero.

Month-on-Month

Measured from a month ago, wholesale prices of selected construction materials registered a negative monthly rate of 0.1 percent in March from a growth of 0.3 percent as the fuels and lubricants index dropped by 0.9 percent from 2.2 percent. In addition, the index for tileworks eased to 0.4 percent from 0.6 percent. On the other hand, an upward adjustment was noted in cement index at 1.0 percent from 0.8 percent. From zero growth, the indices of doors, jambs and steel casement and plumbing fixtures and accessories/waterworks also rose 0.2 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. The monthly movement for the rest of the commodity groups remained stable as they recorded a zero growth.

Rollbacks in the prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene were observed during the reference month while higher prices were noticed in cement, PVC doors and some plumbing fixtures and accessories.