Year-on-Year

On an annual basis, the Construction Materials Wholesale Price Index (CMWPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to record a negative rate at 1.6 percent in the beginning of the year 2015. It was posted at -0.1 percent in December and 2.4 percent in January 2014. The downtrend was mainly due to the double-digit decline in the annual rate of fuels and lubricants index at -24.4 percent. Contributing also to the decrease were the slower annual gains in the indices of sand and gravel (3.1%); cement (0.7%); lumber (4.4%); G.I.sheet (1.9%); structural steel (0.9%); tileworks (1.0%); glass and glass products (1.8%); electrical works (3.8%); plumbing fixtures and accessories (6.4%); and PVC pipes (1.3%). The rest of the commodity groups either had faster annual increases or retained their previous month’s rates. The indices of asphalt and machinery and equipment rental still registered a zero growth.

Month-on-Month

From its previous month’s level, the CMWPI in NCR further dropped by 1.2 percent in January. It resulted from a continuous decline in the monthly movement of fuels and lubricants index at -11.3 percent and in cement index, -1.3 percent. The lumber index also fell by 0.3 percent while a lower monthly growth of 0.2 percent was seen in the plywood index. The other commodity groups either had higher growths or moved at their previous month’s rates.

During the month, a series of price rollbacks were recorded in gasoline, diesel and fuel oil. Downward adjustments in the prices of cement were also observed. Higher prices were, however, noticed in sand, concrete nails, plywood, steel bars, panel doors, electrical wires, PVC pipes, paints and plumbing fixtures and accessories like faucet, kitchen sink and angle valves.