Year-on-Year

The year-on-year growth in the Construction Materials Wholesale Price Index (CMWPI) at the National Capital Region (NCR) further dropped to 0.8 percent in April. It was registered at -0.7 percent in March and in April 2014, 2.4 percent. The downtrend was primarily due to the continuous decline in the annual rate of fuels and lubricants index at -18.5 percent. Moreover, slower annual hikes were observed in the indices of the following commodity groups: sand and gravel (2.4%); concrete products and hardware (2.0%); plumbing fixtures and accessories (6.3%); and painting works (1.5%). On the other hand, the G.I. sheet index grew by 1.2 percent; reinforcing steel index, 1.3 percent; electrical works index, 4.0 percent; and PVC pipes index, 2.3 percent. The rest of the commodity groups retained their last month’s rates with the machinery and equipment rental index still posting a zero growth.

Month-on-Month

From the previous month’s level, the CMWPI in NCR generally remained stable in April as seven commodity groups had zero growths. Higher monthly gains were recorded in the indices of sand and gravel and G.I. sheet at 0.3 percent; cement and reinforcing steel, 0.1 percent; and lumber and electrical works, 0.4 percent. However, the fuels and lubricants index decreased by 0.2 percent while slower monthly increments were noticed in the indices of hardware, plywood and plumbing fixtures and accessories. Movements in the indices of painting works and PVC pipes remained at their respective previous month’s rates of 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent.

Price mark-ups were noted in sand and gravel, cement, plywood, lumber, G.I. sheets, steel bars, electrical wires, paints, selected hardware items, plumbing and fixture accessories, PVC pipes and gasoline. Meanwhile, diesel and fuel oil were priced lower during the month.