Kuala Lumpur:The unit price index for steel saw an increase of 0.1 to 5.1 percent across most areas in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak from September 2025 to September 2026, as reported by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the most significant increases in the steel price index were in Perak at 5.1 percent, Johor at 4.8 percent, and Tawau at 3.8 percent. Meanwhile, the index for cement rose by 0.6 to 7.4 percent nationwide, with the highest increases noted in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, and Negeri Sembilan at 7.4 percent, followed by Kuching at 7.0 percent and Miri at 6.6 percent.
The DOSM report, titled 'Special Release for Building and Structural Works, September 2026,' details the unit price index of major building materials and the building material cost index (BCI) by building category and region. On a month-on-month basis, the cement price index increased by 0.3 to 1.9 percent in September 2026, with the greatest rise in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, and Negeri Sembilan at 1.9 percent, followed by Kota Kinabalu and Kuching at 0.3 percent.
Conversely, the sand price index fell in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, and Negeri Sembilan by 0.7 percent, and in Perak and Johor by 0.5 percent. The steel price index also dropped in September 2026, with month-on-month decreases ranging from 0.2 to 1.6 percent, particularly in Johor at 1.6 percent, followed by Sibu and Miri at 1.3 percent.
The average price of Ordinary Portland cement remained steady at RM25.80 per kilogramme bag. The average price per unit of steel, which includes mild steel round bars and Mycon 60 high tensile deformed bars, decreased by 2.4 percent to RM3,431.90 per metric tonne in September 2026, compared with RM3,484.20 per metric tonne in August 2026.
Additionally, the BCI with steel bars by building category and region in Peninsular Malaysia decreased by 0.1 to 1.3 percent. In Sabah, the BCI with steel bars eased by 0.1 to 0.7 percent month-on-month across all building categories, and in Sarawak, it was slightly lower by 0.1 to 0.5 percent.