Latest figures from a leading trade body reveal that Wales has continued to retain its top position for sales performance at builders’ merchants across Britain.

Throughout 2019, the Builders Merchants Federation’s Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) has pitched Wales top out of 11 areas nationwide, in quarter one, two and now quarter three.

The latest BMBI report puts Wales in first place nationally for quarter three, with 4.2 per cent year-on-year growth in total builders’ merchant value sales.

The BMF’s BMBI is seen as a gold standard in the building materials sector to measure sales activity.

International analytics specialist GfK provides BMBI with point of sale tracking data drawn from over 80 per cent of builders merchants’ sales throughout the country, across the 11 defined areas in Wales, Scotland and England.

Mr John Newcomb, CEO of the BMF, said: “The BMBI report features a wealth of data on regional performance and throughout 2019 Wales has showed the strongest performance to date.

“BMBI shows how Britain’s builders’ merchants perform in different parts of the country, reflecting the ‘regional health’ of construction.

“It shows the positive economic impact of this vital sector across Wales with a 4.2% year-on-year growth for quarter three in total builders’ merchant value sales.”

The value of the UK building materials market overall is £56 billion, which is approximately one third of the total construction industry in the UK.