A huge hike in the price of steel led to an 11.7 per cent jump in the price of wholesale building materials in the year to November, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday.
The rise came as the average wholesale price fell back by 1.6 per cent when compared to the previous November.
Factory-gate prices have now fallen on an annual basis for almost 30 consecutive months. The only positive move in average prices this year came in June, when the CSO's wholesale price index posted a 1.3 per cent increase.
The biggest sectoral drop in the year to November came in office machinery and computers, where prices fell by 14.5 per cent.
A breakdown of VAT-exclusive prices for building and construction materials points to a 56.4 per cent increase in the price of steel over the past year.
Structural steel prices climbed by 61.4 per cent.
Higher steel prices, which have largely been blamed on an upsurge in Chinese demand for the commodity, are trickling down into economies all over the world. The effect of higher oil prices was meanwhile evident in a 16.1 per cent increase in the price of energy products in the year to November.
Wholesale prices for petroleum fuel were 14.5 per cent higher over the year.
The CSO said the export index had fallen by 1.6 per cent year-on-year, while the home sales index increased by 0.9 per cent. The disparity between the two measures can be put down to the strength of the euro against the dollar.
