PUTRAJAYA, March 10 — The Building Materials Cost Index (BCI) without steel bars for all regions in Peninsular Malaysia increased between 0.3 per cent and 1.5 per cent for almost all building categories in February 2022 as compared with the previous month, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said building categories that recorded the highest increase was two to four-storey reinforced concrete building (flat roof) with 1.5 per cent in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Johor.
“Meanwhile, BCI without steel bars in Sabah and Sarawak increased between 0.1 and 2.8 per cent for almost all categories of building.
“Building categories with the highest increase in Sabah and Sarawak were five-storey and above reinforced concrete building (for office) in Kota Kinabalu and reinforced concrete piling in Sibu,” he said in a statement today.
He said the BCI with steel bars for all regions in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak increased between 0.3 and 5.2 per cent for almost all building categories in February 2022.
“Building categories that recorded the highest increase in Peninsular Malaysia were five-storey and above reinforced concrete building (for accommodation) and five-storey and above reinforced concrete building (for office) in Johor with 5.2 per cent, Kota Kinabalu in Sabah with 1.7 per cent for almost all building categories and Sibu in Sarawak with 5.8 per cent for reinforced concrete piling,” he said.
Mohd Uzir said the unit price index for steel which consisted of mild steel round bars and mycon 60 high tensile deformed bars increased three per cent as compared with 1.6 per cent in the previous month.
“The highest increase in steel was recorded in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Johor with 5.1 per cent and followed by Sarawak with 6.7 per cent,” he said.
He said the increase in the prices for most of the building materials such as steel was due to the increase in raw materials cost.
“The World Bank Commodity price data showed that iron ore price increased 7.8 per cent to US$142.84 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) in February 2022 as compared with US$132.53 per dmtu in January 2022.
“Apart from the price of iron ore, the price of other metal and mineral materials such as aluminium, copper, lead, tin, nickel and zinc also showed an upward trend in February 2022,” he added.
— Bernama
