The building materials cost index (BCI) (without steel bars & with steel bars) for all building categories in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak increased between 0.2 to 22.0 per cent in August 2022 as compared to a year ago.
For the same period, the increase in BCI for Peninsular Malaysia was between 5.5 and 18.0 per cent, Sabah between 0.2 and 15.3 per cent and Sarawak between 5.4 and 22.0 per cent.
In a release by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) today entitled ‘Special Release 2 (For Building and Structural Works) August 2022,’ figures show an annual comparison for the period of August 2022 as compared to a year ago showed an increase in BCI with steel bars for all areas in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
The category of buildings that recorded the highest increase in Peninsular Malaysia was 5 Storey and Above (Reinforced Concrete) Building (For Office) in Selangor, W.P. Kuala Lumpur, Melaka & Negeri Sembilan.
The building category that recorded the highest increase in Sabah was Reinforced Concrete Piling in Sandakan and Single Storey Steel Frame in Miri Sarawak.
BCI without steel bars increased between 5.5 and 12.4 per cent for all building categories in Peninsular Malaysia.
The building category that recorded the highest increase was 5 Storey and Above (Reinforced Concrete) Building (For Office) for Peninsular Malaysia. The building category that recorded the highest increase in Sabah was Single Storey Steel Frame (Towers only) in Sandakan. Meanwhile, the highest BCI without steel bars in Sarawak is Single Storey Steel Frame (Building) in Miri.
The unit price index of building materials increased between 5.0 per cent to 13.3 per cent for August 2022 as compared to a year ago. The price index per unit of steel and steel & metal sections increased by 12.9 per cent and 11.4 per cent respectively in August 2022 as compared to August 2021.
A monthly comparison by construction materials and selected areas, showed decrease in the unit price index of iron of all areas in the Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
The decrease in unit price index for steel and metal sections ranged from 0.2 to 3.4 per cent for almost all areas in the Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
However, other building materials in some areas remained unchanged such as aggregates for all areas in Peninsular Malaysia except in Johor; ready mix concrete for all areas in Sabah and sand in Kuching & Miri, Sarawak.
Meanwhile, average unit price of steel bar consisting of mild steel round bars and Mycon 60 high tensile deformed bars increased 9.8 per cent to record an average price of steel bar RM3,778.71 per metric tonnes as compared to the previous year (August 2021: RM3,440.91 per metric tonnes). Meanwhile, cement recorded an increase of 11.2 per cent, RM20.95/50 kg (August 2022) as compared to RM18.85/50 kg (August 2021). However, the increase in prices for these two materials was slower than the previous month.
