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The latest Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) report reveals that the value of builders’ merchants’ sales was up by 0.8% in February compared to the same month in 2022 but this was entirely due to prices going up by 14.9%.
The volume of product sold fell by 12.2% compared to Febrtuary 2022. There was no difference in the number of trading days in each month this year.
However, comparing February to January, sales volumes were up by 13.4%. But as prices fell by 4.6% during February, takings were up by only 8.2%. With one less trading day in February, like-for-like sales were up 13.6%.
Total merchant sales in the 12 months from March 2022 to February 2023 were 3.8% up by value on the same period a year before. Price inflation reached 16.6% while volumes were down 11.0%.
Mike Rigby, the MR of MRA Research who produces the monthly BMBI report, said: “2023 has so far evaded recession, but it’s teetering between still rapidly rising prices and falling volumes. It’s a strange time with the economy caught between a government pleased to welcome growth and a central bank keen to discourage it in its battle against inflation. Global financial markets wobbled after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the hurried bundling of Credit Suisse into UBS. We can expect more bank failures, although few people are predicting a serious meltdown.”
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