Results of the Indices and Prices of Construction Materials for the 2nd Quarter of 2005

Information from the Statistics and Census Service shows that in the second quarter of 2005, price indices rose in most of the surveyed construction materials compared with the first quarter of 2005. Among them, steel, sand, concrete, lime, aggregates, timber, red bricks, ceramic products, glass, paint, pipes, sanitary articles, cement and electric wires rose between 0.4% and 7.0%. However, the price index of aluminium fell 2.3%, which was the only decline recorded. Among the above changes in price indices, steel recorded the largest increase of 7.0%, followed by red bricks, up 6.5%. Compared with the second quarter of 2004, price indices rose in most of the surveyed construction materials, with the biggest increase in electric wires, up 37.2%, whereas sanitary articles decreased the most, by 0.4%.