Construction materials got a little cheaper in June. Don’t get used to it. Input prices fell 1.1% for the month, according to industry analyses of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index, but they’re still 7.6% higher than they were a year ago. Nonresidential input prices told the same story, down 1.1% on the month and up 7.4% on the year.
What pushed materials prices down
Energy did the heavy lifting. Crude petroleum dropped 12.1% and unprocessed energy materials fell 8.1%, which pulled down everything that moves by truck or gets made from petrochemicals. Natural gas cut the other way, up 16.6% on the month, but the net effect on input costs was a modest decline.
The metals that didn’t get the memo
Strip out energy and the picture flips. Iron and steel rose 2.5% for the month, steel mill products jumped 3.6%, and copper wire ticked up 1.7%. Those are the categories carrying the 50% metals tariffs, and they keep grinding higher regardless of what oil does. Copper in particular has become a line item that can bust a budget on any project heavy in wiring or bus duct, from data centers to large power-transformer plants where the metal is the product.
The people who buy this stuff aren’t calling a top. AGC economists flagged that ongoing escalation is likely over the coming months, with tariffs and tight metals markets doing the work that cheaper oil briefly offset. A one-month dip reads better in a headline than it does in a bid. Estimators are still writing escalation clauses.