The General Index of Construction Costs in the A.C. of the Basque Country fell 0.2% in November 2002, according to Eustat data. The inter-annual variation, November 2002 in relation to November 2001, came to a 2.6% increase, the same rate registered with regard to last December.
In November, raw material costs fell 0.3%, while labour costs remained stable. Nevertheless, labour costs increased 4.0% over the inter-annual period compared with a 1.6% increase in raw materials.
Raw material costs for the subsectors "Building" and "Civil Works" followed a similar trend in November, with decreases in both subsectors, although to differing extents: raw material costs for "Building" fell 0.2% and dropped 0.7% for "Civil Works". Nevertheless, more notable differences are produced on analysing the inter-annual evolution, with growth rates of 1.4% in comparison with November 2001 for "Building" and 2.3% for "Civil Works".
Among the prices of raw materials consumed by the sector that increased most in November 2002 were: "Electric energy" (1.9%), "Lime, gypsum and plaster" (1.0%) and "Iron and steel" (0.4%).
The inter-annual evolution of prices shows the most important increases in the costs of the following consumed products: "Oil by products" (8.0%), "Artificial cement" (7.1%), "Metallic piping" (6.4%) and "Accessories for machinery employed" (4.4%).