Retail prices of construction materials rise anew

Retail prices of construction materials in the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to rise in June, with the annual increase reaching the highest level in over 13 years.

“The annual growth rate of CMRPI (Construction Materials Retail Price Index) increased to 6.8 percent in June 2022, the highest since January 2009,” the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

The CMRPI’s growth rate in June is higher than the 6.2 percent recorded in May.

It is likewise faster than the 1.2 percent uptick in June last year.

PSA said the upward trend was due mainly to the higher annual increase in the index for tinsmithry materials at 9.4 percent in June from 8.3 percent in the previous month.

This was followed by the index for plumbing materials, which posted an annual increment of 8.5 percent in June from 7.9 percent in May.

Other commodity groups also posted a higher annual growth rate compared to the previous month’s annual increases.

In particular, carpentry materials posted a 2.5-percent uptick in June from 2.1 percent in May.

Electrical materials rose to 4.5 percent in June from May’s four percent.

The masonry materials index went up to 4.3 percent in June from 3.9 percent in May.

Painting materials and related components’ index climbed to 4.6 percent in June from 4.1 percent in May.

Miscellaneous construction materials were up to 10.6 percent in June from 10.2 percent in the previous month.

For the first semester, the average CMRPI growth in NCR was at five percent.

CMRPI is a variant of the General Retail Price Index, measuring the changes in average retail prices of construction materials.