Carib Cement turns to Cuba

Carib Cement turns to Cuba
Camilo Thame
Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Carib Cement has turned to Cuba to help supplement its cement
production, following the shortfall that the company says was due to
inclement weather in October last year.

The company, which faced criticisms in Jamaica for its failure to meet
local demand, after having been given a virtual monopoly in the local
market, faced a 40,000-metric tonnes (MT) shortfall or just about four
per cent of its normal output.

The cement manufacturer had initially publicly stated that it was
looking to its sister firm Arawak Cement in Barbados to make up the
deficit - and in fact bought bag cements from that regional firm between
December and January.

However, last week, the company's marketing manager Alice Hyde confirmed
that the bulk version came from Cuba.

While the cement imported from Cuba was far less expensive than the
brand out of Barbados, it attracted a 40 per cent duty because Cuba is
not a member of Caricom.

"Because Barbados is a member of the Caricom Community the CET (common
external tariff) is not applicable in this case," said Hyde in
responding to questions posed by the Business Observer. "Therefore, the
40 per cent duty would not be applicable."

Checks made by this newspaper with Customs revealed that between
December and

January, there were two shipments of cement into the island - one 8,000
MT of bagged ordinary portland cement, and the other, 3,253 MT of bulk
portland grey cement. The latter was from Cuba.

The import from Cuba was brought to the attention of the Business
Observer because of reports of a complaint about the quality of the
product from one construction site.

However, while the Bureau of Standard confirmed that it had fielded a
single complaint, it said that all the tests done on the product from
Cuba produced positive results. However, the Bureau did not say whether
this complaint specifically related to the product imported from Cuba.

Carib Cement also said the specification of the Cuban cement had
surpassed the Bureau's standards.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20060214T230000-0500_98753_OBS_CARIB_CEMENT_TURNS_TO_CUBA.asp