August’s Construction Materials Prices Up Almost a Quarter on Last Year

IN THE LATEST monthly statistics from BEIS for Building Materials and Components for August 2021, the material price index for All Work increased by 23.5% compared to August 2020. The increase on the previous month was 2.8%.

Looking at different sectors, material prices for new housing increased by 2.3% on the prior month in August, while Repair & Maintenance rose by 2.6%. Other new work prices rose by 2.8%.

As in recent months, the materials with the greatest price rises were imported plywood, showing a rise in price of 78% on last year, fabricated structural steel increasing by 74% and imported sawn or planed wood rising by 74% since August 2020.

Materials Sales and Deliveries

Concrete roof tiles production, deliveries and stocks show no update on July’s figures.

Set alongside these price rises is the increase in sales of sand and gravel which rose 1.7% in Quarter 2 of this year compared to the previous quarter. Ready-mixed concrete sales increased by 4.7% in Quarter 2 2021 compared to the preceding quarter (and 6.2% on Q1 2020). Meanwhile, concrete blocks saw a 6.5% boost in deliveries in August 2021 on August the previous year; but down on July 2021 by 1.8%.

Likewise, there was an increase in brick deliveries in August 2021 of 6.2%. This followed a 20.4% increase in July this year, compared to July 2020.

Imports of construction materials increased in Q2 2021 by 7.1% on the previous quarter, to £328 million. Exports also increased by 12.1% in Q2 2021 compared to the previous quarter. The quarterly trade deficit widened between Q1 and Q2 this year by 4.3% to £3,060 million.

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