Carib Cement threatens to shelve expansion works: Paper

Jamaica's Caribbean Cement Company (Carib Cement) will shelve the proposed US$100mn expansion of capital Kingston's Rockfort plant if the government revokes an undertaking to protect the market from imports by imposing a 50% tariff on cement imports, the Jamaica Observer reported. The tariff is critical for the company's planned 700,000t/y plant on the island, while lenders to Carib Cement will want to see the projected returns, the paper quoted finance minister Omar Davies as saying. Carib Cement has filed a complaint with the country's anti-dumping & subsidies commission against cement importer Arc Systems with the aim of reversing a 5% drop in sales through to mid-September 2003, BNamericas previously reported. The cement company claims Arc is importing dumped cement from Egypt, along with imports from Mainland International, hurting the company's operations. Carib Cement president Anthony Haynes claims that Arc imported 111,000t of cement this year while Carib Cement sold 420,000t nationally through mid-September, which means imported brands represent 20% of Jamaican sales. "It takes up to one year to hand down a ruling, while it would take three to four years between the time the investment decision is made and the commissioning of the new plant," the paper quoted TCL international business general manager Kelvin Mahabir as saying, adding that it would not be feasible to await a decision by the anti-dumping commission for the company to decide on the investment decision. The TCL Group consists of seven operating companies in Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica and Anguilla.