Year-on-Year

The year-on-year growth of the Construction Materials Retail Price Index (CMRPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) decelerated to 1.5 percent in April 2017. It was pegged at 1.7 percent in March 2017 and 1.1 percent in April 2016. The indices of the following commodity groups posted slower annual gains in April 2017:

• Carpentry Materials (0.5%)
• Masonry Materials (1.8%)
• Plumbing Materials (2.2%)
• Miscellaneous Construction Materials (5.9%)

The rest of the commodity groups retained their previous month’s rate. (Table 2)

Month-on-Month

On a monthly basis, the CMRPI in NCR moved up at a slower pace of 0.1 percent in April 2017. It went up by 0.2 percent in the previous month. The index of carpentry materials inched up 0.2 percent during the month after it registered a 0.1 percent decline in March 2017. Meanwhile, the increment in miscellaneous construction materials index slowed down to 0.3 percent. Movements in the indices of painting materials and related compounds and plumbing materials remained at 0.3 percent and -0.1 percent, respectively. The other commodity groups posted zero growth during the period. (Table 3)

Upward price adjustments were noticed in plywood, lawanit, sand and gravel, hollow block, paints, and steel bars in April 2017. However, price reductions were noted in white cement and faucet.