Gradual recovery seen for prices of building materials

Besides that, it estimated cement prices in Peninsular Malaysia to hold steady at RM250 per tonne in the second half of this year due to the emergence of a price leader in the market following YTL Cement’s acquisition of Malayan Cement Bhd last year.

KUALA LUMPUR: The outlook for the building materials sector is turning more favourable on expectations that aluminium and steel prices are likely to inch up, while cement prices are expected to hold steady.

AmInvestment Bank Research, which has upgraded the sector to “neutral” from “underweight, ” sees a mild recovery in aluminium price to US$1,600 per tonne in the second half of this year compared to US$1,528 per tonne in the second quarter of 2020.