Abu Dhabi, 30 April 2011 (WAM) - Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi (SCAD) issued today its yearly report on the prices of building materials during the year 2010.

The report presents an analysis of the movements in the prices of 195 items of construction materials, categorized into 21 groups of commodities and services that represent the most important materials used in the construction activity, including cement, aggregate (gravel), sand, wood, steel, concrete, cement blocks, etc.

The report price data is collected from over 70 sources, selected by SCADs Price Indices Section, through field visits by a team from the section. The team also reports to the Prices Section in the event of closure or relocation of any source, and the list of sources is updated accordingly.

SCAD has published this report since 2008, in line with the directives of the emirates leadership for the development of economic sectors and support of their stability. The report, which reviews the price of 195 of the items and services used in the construction industry for the years 2009 and 2010, is one of the key publications of SCAD. The dissemination of the report will hopefully prove useful to data users in the public and private sectors in research, planning and decision making in ways that support construction sector besides related and dependent sectors.

The price data contained in the report for the years 2009 and 2010 enable the calculation of relative monthly prices for each of the basic building materials items, with 2009 fixed as the base year.

SCADs report presents the 2010 annual changes in price for the groups item and for which it is technically possible to calculate an average annual change in the price of each item. These statistics show a wide range of price movements, with the highest annual rise in prices in 2010 for several items being around 30-40 per cent, and the largest falls being over 30 per cent.

The highest average annual increases in prices in 2010 occurred in the following building material groups: Steel (up 10.2 per cent), Glass (up 16.7 per cent), Wires (up 24.4 per cent) and Diesel (up 13.2 per cent).

The largest average annual falls in prices in 2010 occurred in the following building material groups: Cement (down 12.9 per cent), Concrete (down 30.5 per cent), Blocks (10.9 per cent), Roofing Materials (15.2 per cent) and Construction labour (10.8 per cent).

The report shows a 12.9% decline in cement prices during 2010 compared with 2009, reflecting a drop of 25.2% in the prices of Etihad and Emirates sulphate resistant cement. In addition, the price of standard Portland cement retreated by 25.2%, white cement by 2.3%, while Omani lime and gypsum increased by 4.2% and 1.4%, respectively.

The average prices of the "aggregate and sand group" retreated by 6.2% in 2010 compared with 2009, owing to a drop in the prices of most of the items under this group, including "Aggregates / Ordinary 3/4 / m3 / UAE" which fell by 14.2%, "Aggregates / Ordinary 3/8 / m3 / U.A.E." (down by 21.7%), "Sand / Red / m3 / UAE" and "Sand / Black / m3 /UAE" by 7.5% and 3%, respectively.

On the other hand the prices of "Aggregates / Crush 3/4 / m3 / UAE" and "Sand / White / m3 / UAE" advanced by 2.4% and 3.2%, respectively.

As SCADs report finds, the price of construction steel advanced 10.2% in 2010 compared to 2009, due to a rise of in the prices of most steel items from March 2010 onwards.

According to SCADs report, the price of cement blocks dropped by 10.9 per cent in 2010 compared with 2009, as a result of a fall in the average prices of all items in this group, with the exception of "Clay / tile / Pica / m3 / UAE", which rose by 10.8%.

The report shows that concrete prices plummeted 30.6% in 2010 compared with 2009, due to a decrease of 31.5% and 29.5% in the prices of "Concrete Ready Mix / Normal (Newton 40) / m3 / UAE" and "Concrete Ready Mix / Sulphate Resistant / m3 / UAE", respectively.

SCAD also reported a decline of 10.8% in the average cost of construction labour during 2010 compared with 2009, due to a fall in the cost of all of the components of this group, with the decline amounting 16.1% in January, 21.6% in May (the largest fall). The price subsequently rebounded, rising 1.9% in December 2010.

The next issue of this report, to be released in February 2012, will contain the detailed prices and annual price changes in the prices of building materials for the years 2010 and 2011.

SCAD expressed gratitude to all the entities that contributed to the collection of these prices, thus facilitating the compilation of the Centres Annual Building Materials Report. The Centre reiterated that it welcomes any suggestions or observations intended to develop and improve its statistics in the future so that it better serve its partners and upgrade the standard of statistical work in the emirate.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2011.