Year-on-Year

The annual adjustment of the Construction Materials Retail Price Index (CMRPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) further went down by 0.4 percent in August. It declined by 0.3 percent last month while in August 2014, it grew by 1.5 percent. Negative annual rates were still posted in the indices of electrical materials at -1.7 percent; tinsmithry materials, -0.8 percent; and miscellaneous construction materials, -7.8 percent. Moreover, slower annual increments were noted in the corresponding indices of carpentry materials and painting materials & related compounds at 1.5 percent and 0.5 percent. A higher annual increase was however, registered in masonry materials index at 4.0 percent while a zero growth was recorded in the plumbing materials index.

Month-on-Month

For two succeeding months now, the CMRPI in NCR had a zero growth due to the mixed price movements seen among the commodity groups. While a zero growth was noticed in electrical and masonry materials indices, a 0.1 percent decrease was recorded in the indices of painting materials & related compounds, plumbing materials, and tinsmithry materials. On the other hand, the indices of carpentry materials and miscellaneous construction materials inched up by 0.1 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Prices of cement, paint thinner, GI pipes and selected tinsmithry materials generally declined during the month while higher prices were noted in wire nails and steel bars during the period. The rest of the construction materials generally remained stable this month.