The General Index of Construcion Costs of the A.C. of the Basque Country fell 0.1% in October 2002, according to Eustat data. The inter-annual variation, October 2000 with regard to October 2001, came to a 2.3% increase and the variation for the first ten months of the year with regard to last December registered a 2.7% rise.
In October raw material costs registered a 0.1% decrease, while labour costs remained stable. However, in the inter-annual period, labour costs rose 4.0% compared with a 1.2% increase in raw materials.
Raw material costs for the subsectors "Building" and "Civil Works" evolved identically in October, with 0.1% falls in both subsectors. Nevertheless, more appreciable differences are seen by analysing the inter-annual evolution, with a growth rate of 0.9% for "Building" in relation to October 2001, and 2.0% in "Civil Works".
Among the prices of raw materials consumed by the sector that increased most in October 2002 were "Lime, gypsum and plaster" (3.1%), "Glass" (2.8%) and "Metal piping" (1.7%).
The inter-annual evolution of prices marks more significant rises for the costs of the following products "Artificial cement" (6.8%), "Oil by-products" (5.9%) "Accessories for machinery used" (4.8%), and "Metal piping" (4.6%).