Year-on-Year

The year-on-year change in the Construction Materials Wholesale Price Index (CMWPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to decline as it recorded a negative rate of 1.4 percent in February. Last month, it dropped by 1.6 percent while in February 2014, it rose 2.2 percent. The 23.9 percent annual decrease in the fuels and lubricants index primarily brought about the downtrend. In addition, slower annual gains were seen in sand and gravel index at 3.0 percent; cement index, 0.6 percent; hardware index, 2.0 percent; lumber index, 3.6 percent; and G.I. sheet index, 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, faster annual growths were noted in the indices of eight commodity groups with plumbing fixtures and accessories index registering the highest annual increment of 6.7 percent. The rest of the commodity groups moved at their last month’s rates while the machinery and equipment rental index had a zero growth.

Month-on-Month

On a monthly basis, wholesale prices of selected construction materials in NCR went up by 0.3 percent in February. It resulted from higher monthly mark-ups in the indices of concrete products at 0.3 percent; cement, 0.5 percent; plywood and tileworks, 0.4 percent; PVC pipes, 0.7 percent; and fuels and lubricants, 0.9 percent. The indices of sand and gravel; hardware; and plumbing fixtures and accessories however had slower rates. The other commodity groups either retained their previous month’s rate or had a zero growth.

Price hikes in gasoline, diesel and fuel oil were noted during the month. Upward adjustments were also observed in the prices of some construction materials like sand and gravel, cement, hollow blocks, plywood, floor tiles, concrete nails, paints and PVC pipes.