Changes in the indexes for nonmetallic building materials
The accompanying table shows how Nelson-Farrar indexes have changed over the period 2000-02 for selected basically nonmetallic building materials.
Data are included for the overall nonmetallic group, five nonmetallic materials, and iron castings.
Building brick, concrete ingredients, and fireclay brick indexes showed the greatest changes during the period.
Fireclay brick changed from 1,198.9 in the first quarter of 2000 to 1,295.1 in the fourth quarter of 2002. Building brick, showing the greatest gains of the three, changed from 1,068.6 in the first quarter to 1,193.1 in the second quarter of the period tested.
During the same period, concrete ingredients changed from 820.0 to 867.4.
Concrete products and clay products showed more moderate changes, although none of the changes in the indexes was drastic. The concrete products index rose from 688.5 to 723.6 over the 3-year period.
Clay products changed from 816.8 to 828.6.
The smallest index change occurred in the iron castings category, changing from 1,122.3 in the first quarter of 2000 to 1,134.7 in the fourth quarter of 2002.
The final category, the overall nonmetallic index, changed from 764.8 to a high of 790.7 during the third quarter of 2002.
