Year-on-Year

The annual growth in the Construction Materials Wholesale Price Index (CMWPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to improve at 1.6 percent in September from 2.0 percent in August. It mainly resulted from a decline in the annual rate of fuels and lubricants index at -2.3 percent in September from 1.3 percent in August. Moreover, the annual gain in cement index slowed down to 5.1 percent from 5.5 percent; tileworks index, 4.0 percent from 4.2 percent; and glass and glass products index, 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent. On the other hand, the indices for most of the commodity groups recorded higher annual rates while those for structural steel and asphalt were at their last month’s rates. Movement in the machinery and equipment rental index was still zero.

Month-on-Month

The month-on-month change in the wholesale price index of selected construction materials in NCR was registered at 0.1 percent in September, the same rate posted in August. A higher monthly increment was seen in hardware index at 0.4 percent from 0.1 percent; reinforcing steel index, 0.3 percent from 0.2 percent; and electrical works, 0.2 percent from 0.1 percent. From zero growth, the indices of the following commodity groups also increased during the month: PVC pipes (0.9%); lumber (0.6%); doors, jambs and steel casement (0.5%); plywood and plumbing fixtures and accessories/waterworks (0.4%); tileworks (0.3%); concrete products (0.2%); and G.I. sheet and painting works (0.1%). However, the cement index dropped by 0.1 percent and the fuels and lubricants index, -0.5 percent. The rest of the commodity groups had a zero growth while the sand and gravel index recorded a slower monthly rate of 0.1 percent.

Prices of plywood, reinforcing steel, PVC doors, selected electrical works, some plumbing fixtures, paints and diesel oil were on the uptrend. Meanwhile, cement and lubricating oil were priced lower during the period.