Published on 14 July 2012 [
manilatimes.net ]
Written by Mayvelin U. Caraballo
Prices of wholesale construction
materials in Metro Manila continued to decelerate at a slower rate in June
compared from the previous month.
The NSO attributed the annual decrease
to the drop in the fuels and lubricants index to -1.9 percent from 3.6 percent.
In addition, slower annual increments
were seen in the indices of nine commodity groups such as sand and gravel, 9
percent; concrete products, 2.7 percent; hardware, 2.5 percent; plywood, 4
percent; reinforcing steel, 3 percent; structural steel, 5 percent; tileworks,
4.1 percent; doors, jambs, and steel casement, 3.7 percent; and asphalt, 3.1
percent.
Meanwhile, annual upticks were higher
in the indices of cement; glass and glass products; electrical works; plumbing
fixtures and accessories/waterworks; and painting works.
“Those for the rest of the commodity
groups remained at their last month’s annual rates while that for machinery and
equipment was still zero,” the statistics agency said.
On a month-on-month basis, NSO further
said that prices of construction materials further dropped to -0.8 percent in
June from -0.3 percent in May.
The index for fuels and lubricants
declined by -6.4 percent from -3.2 percent, while doors, jambs and steel
casement index went down to -0.1 percent from zero growth.
A slowdown was also noted in the
monthly uptick of reinforcing steel index at 0.4 percent from 0.7 percent;
glass and glass products index at 0.1 percent from 0.2 percent; and electrical
works index at 0.3 percent from 0.5 percent. NSO noted that from zero growth,
higher monthly gains were observed in the indices of cement, plumbing fixtures
and accessories/waterworks and painting works. The other commodity groups
posted zero growth in June.
The statistics agency explained that
the downward trend in the Construction Materials Wholesale Price Index was from
the series of price rollbacks in gasoline and diesel oil, along with the lower
prices of some PVC doors.
On the other hand, prices of cement and
paints were higher during the month.
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