RETAIL prices of construction materials in Metro Manila posted a six-month high in January 2019, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The data showed the Construction Materials Retail Price Index (CMRPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) grew 2.5 percent in January 2019.
This was the highest since July 2018 when the CMRPI was also at 2.5 percent. In January 2018, the CMRPI posted a growth of 2 percent.
“Higher annual increments were registered in the indices of electrical materials at 1.4 percent; masonry materials, 5.9 percent; and miscellaneous construction materials, 2.3 percent,” the PSA said.
The growth of the index of electrical materials was the fastest since October 2018 when it was at 1.5 percent. Electrical materials had the second highest weight of all the seven major construction material commodity groups in the CMRPI.
Masonry materials, meanwhile, posted the fastest growth in retail prices in all commodity groups in January. The growth was also the highest since February 2015 when it posted a 6.2-percent growth.
In terms of miscellaneous construction materials, the growth in January was the highest since November when it grew 2.7 percent.
Meanwhile, month-on-month growth in the CMRPI slowed to 0.2 percent in January 2019. This is the same average monthly growth in October, September and July 2018.
The PSA attributed this to the slowdown in the indices of carpentry materials at 0.1 percent; electrical materials, 0.2 percent; masonry materials and miscellaneous construction materials, both at 0.5 percent.
“Price hikes were seen in the prices of plywood, lumber, electrical wires, cement, gravel, sand, selected paints and corrugated G.I. sheets. These were, however, tempered by the lower prices of G.I. pipes,” the PSA said.
The CMRPI is a variant of the General Retail Price Index (GRPI) that measures the changes in the average retail prices of construction materials.
The market basket for RPI of Selected Construction Materials is composed of 102 commodities and is classified into seven major groups.