Dubai: Construction material prices in Dubai reached highs and lows during the second quarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year, according to a Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC) report released on Thursday.
The Construction Materials Price Index report showed that 2015 second quarter prices of white cement were down 0.4 per cent from the corresponding time a year ago, but flat compared with the first quarter of this year.
Ordinary Portland and salt-resistant cement costs were up 1.7 and 0.4 per cent respectively compared with the second quarter in 2014.
Prices of gypsum and lime, meanwhile, edged down 3.49 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.
White sand and Conakry gravel costs were mostly up. However, prices of white sand were flat compared to the first three months of this year.
Brick and concrete prices rose from the second quarter last year. However, prices of iron dropped as much as 12.96 per cent.
The UAE construction sector had a busy first half. Damac Properties recently said that it had issued project awards worth Dh2.8 billion in the first five months of this year. This includes over 1,500 villas at its Akoya Oxygen project and three hotel apartment towers.
Last year, production in the UAE construction sector grew, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said in a note on the state of the UAE economy published last month.
“Production in the construction sector reached Dh295 billion in 2014, up from Dh155 billion in 2006,” he said.
