By Louella D.
Desiderio (The Philippine Star) | Updated April 17, 2013 - 12:00am
MANILA,
Philippines - Wholesale prices of construction materials in Metro Manila eased
in February from last month with slowdowns noted in prices of most commodity
groups, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.
The statistics
agency said in a report the annual change in the Construction Materials
Wholesale Price Index (CMWPI) was at 1.2 percent in March compared to two
percent in February.
The NSO noted
that the annual rate in the index for fuels and lubricants further went down to
5.5 percent in March from -2.6 percent in February.
It said
indices of other commodity groups also slowed during the month.
Slowdowns
were noted in the indices of the following: sand and gravel (three percent from
4.3 percent); concrete products (two percent from 2.6 percent); cement (5.7
percent from 6.3 percent); hardware (1.9 percent from 2.5 percent); plywood
(1.8 percent from 2.1 percent); lumber (4.1 percent from 4.5 percent); G.I.
sheet (0.9 percent from 1.6 percent); reinforcing steel (3.3 percent from 3.6
percent); structural steel (2.6 percent from 3.3 percent); doors, jambs and
steel casement (1.2 percent from 1.7 percent); electrical works (2.7 percent
from 3.6 percent); painting works (1.1 percent from 1.5 percent); and PVC pipes
(0.9 percent from 1.4 percent).
Adjustments
in prices of glass and glass products
and asphalt were steady in March.
The glass and
glass products index was at 0.9 percent in March, the same as the previous
month.
The asphalt
index was unchanged at 3.9 percent in March from the prior month.
The machinery
and equipment rental index meanwhile had zero growth in March.
The CMWPI
measures the changes in the average wholesale prices of construction materials.
The index is
used for the computation of price escalation of construction materials for
various government projects.
_______________________________________________________
