Prices of selected building materials recorded mixed movements in July 2026, with sand, steel and cement registering increases in several areas across Malaysia, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
The unit price index for sand rose between 0.1% and 14.9% month-on-month (m-o-m) in July, with the sharpest increase recorded in Terengganu and Kelantan at 14.9%.
This was followed by Kota Kinabalu at 4.1% and Pulau Pinang, Kedah and Perlis at 2.8%.
Meanwhile, the unit price index for steel edged up between 0.6% and 0.9% m-o-m across selected areas.
Perak recorded the highest increase at 0.9%, followed by Tawau at 0.7% and Sandakan at 0.6%. The index remained unchanged in most other areas across Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
The unit price index for cement also recorded modest increases of between 0.2% and 0.8% compared with June.
Perak again registered the largest increase at 0.8%, followed by Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan at 0.3%, while Pulau Pinang, Kedah and Perlis recorded a 0.2% increase.
The cement price index remained unchanged in most other areas across Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, the unit price index for steel increased between 0.5% and 8.4% in July 2026 across most areas in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
Perak recorded the highest annual increase at 8.4%, followed by Johor at 6.3% and Pahang at 4.8%.
Cement prices also remained higher compared with a year earlier.
The y-o-y unit price index for cement increased between 0.9% and 7.5% across all areas in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
Perak recorded the largest increase at 7.5%, followed by Kuching and Miri at 7.2% each.
Despite the increase in the steel price index in selected areas, the average price per unit of steel, comprising mild steel round bars and Mycon 60 high tensile deformed bars, declined marginally by 0.2% in July.
The average price stood at RM3,499.50 per metric tonne, compared with RM3,507.10 per metric tonne in June 2026.
The average price of Ordinary Portland cement, meanwhile, remained unchanged at RM25.70 per 50kg bag.
