PETALING JAYA: March 2025 recorded a decrease in the unit price index of steel between negative 0.1% and negative 4.2% for almost all areas in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak compared to the previous month.
The highest decrease was recorded in Perak (-4.2%), followed by Selangor, W.P. Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan and Kuching (-2%), respectively.
Apart from that, Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that the unit price index of steel & metal sections showed a decline between negative 0.1% to negative 1.1% for almost all areas in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak in March 2025 as compared to the previous month.
The highest decrease was recorded in Kuching (-1.1%).
In addition, the unit price index of sand registered a slight increase between 0.1% to 1.4% for almost all areas in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak in March 2025 as compared to the previous month. The highest increase was recorded in Pahang (1.4%), followed by Selangor, W.P. Kuala Lumpur, Malacca & Negeri Sembilan (1.3%) and Perak (1.1%).
Concurrently, there was an increase in the price index per unit of cement in March 2025 as compared to the previous month for several areas namely Johor (1.8%), followed by Penang, Kedah, Perlis and Tawau (0.9%), respectively. Meanwhile, the unit price index for cement remained unchanged for other areas.
An annual comparison for the period of March 2024 and March 2025 indicated that the unit price index of cement increased between 0.2% to 4% for almost all areas in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. The highest increase was recorded in Selangor, W.P. Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan and Sandakan (4%), followed by Johor (3.5%) and Pahang (3.3%).
Nevertheless, an annual comparison of the unit price index of steel recorded a decrease between negative 1.1% to negative 18.9% in March 2025 as compared to the same month last year for almost all areas in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. The highest decrease in the unit price index of steel was recorded in Perak (-18.9%).
Mohd Uzir said that the average price per unit of steel, consisting of mild steel round bars and Mycon 60 high tensile deformed bars recorded a decrease (-0.5%) with an average price of RM3,505.28 per metric tonne as compared to the previous month (February 2025: RM3,545.15 per metric tonne).
Meanwhile, the average price of Ordinary Portland cement showed a slight increase (0.2%), with an average price of RM23.65 per 50kg bag as compared to February 2025 (RM23.60 per 50kg bag).
BCI with steel bars for all building categories in Peninsular Malaysia recorded a slight decrease between negative 0.2% to negative 1.6% in March 2025 as compared to the previous month. The decrease for BCI with steel was recorded for almost all building categories except in Timber Building and Timber Piling in Selangor, W.P. Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Terengganu and Kelantan.
BCI with steel bars in Sabah also registered a decrease between 0.1% to 0.3% for almost all building categories in Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan in March 2025 as compared to the previous month.
Meanwhile, BCI in Tawau recorded a slight decrease between negative 0.1% to negative 0.3% for almost all categories of building.
A monthly comparison of BCI with steel bars in Sarawak for March 2025 recorded a slight decrease between negative 0.2% and negative 1.1% for almost all categories of buildings except for Timber Building and Timber Piling in Kuching and Sibu. However, BCI with steel bars for almost all building categories in Miri remained unchanged as compared to the previous month.
