The escalation in retail construction material prices within the National Capital Region (NCR) descended to an eight-month minimum in February, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday.<\/p>\n
Initial figures from the PSA indicated that the construction materials retail price index (CMRPI) decelerated to 1.1% in February, down from 1.2% logged in January. The index maintained its level from February of the previous year.<\/p>\n
This represented the least robust reading in eight months, or since the 1% growth noted in June 2024.<\/p>\n
Year-to-date, the CMRPI averaged 1.1%, slightly lower than the 1.2% average recorded in January-February 2023.<\/p>\n
The PSA noted that six out of seven commodity categories exhibited slower annual growths in February, with plumbing materials spearheading the downward movement as the index dipped to 0.4% from 0.8% in January.<\/p>\n
Plumbing materials ranked as the second most significant commodity in the index, comprising 17.3% of the CMRPI.<\/p>\n
Additional commodity categories also registered slower price escalations, such as miscellaneous construction materials (0.4% in February, down from 0.6% in January), tinsmithry materials (1.5% from 1.6%), carpentry materials (0.9% from 1.0%), electrical materials (1.7% from 1.8%), and masonry materials (0.2% from 0.3%).<\/p>\n