Year-on-Year

The Construction Materials Wholesale Price Index (CMWPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to drop as its annual growth was posted at -1.1 percent in September. In August, it declined by 1.2 percent but in September 2014, it picked up by 1.8 percent. The downtrend was brought about by the decreases in the annual rates of cement index at -0.8 percent; reinforcing steel index, -0.1 percent; and fuels and lubricants index, -18.5 percent. Annual hikes were also slower in the indices of plywood at 3.2 percent; lumber, 0.8 percent; structural steel, 0.7 percent; glass and glass products, 0.3 percent; and electrical works, 2.2 percent. The rest of the commodity groups either had higher annual gains or retained their last month’s rates with the machinery and equipment rental index still recording a zero growth.

Month-on-Month

From the previous month’s level, the overall CMWPI in NCR had a zero growth in September due to the offsetting movements observed among the commodity groups. Higher increments were recorded in the indices of sand and gravel at 0.2 percent; lumber, structural steel and electrical works, 0.1 percent; and plumbing fixtures and accessories, 0.5 percent. However, the plywood index went down by 0.1 percent; reinforcing steel index, -0.5 percent; and fuels and lubricants index, -0.4 percent. In addition, a slower increase was seen in the hardware index at 0.1 percent. The concrete products index moved at its last month’s rate of 0.3 percent while the rest of the commodity groups had a zero growth.

Price mark-ups were noted in gravel, lumber, angle bars, hollow blocks, some plumbing fixtures, diesel and fuel oil. Meanwhile, gasoline, steel bars and plywood were priced lower during the month.