Prices skyrocket in face of severe cement shortage

Mar 09, 2012 News

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The ongoing industrial action at the Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) headquarters in Trinidad is now having a direct impact on the Guyanese market.
Distributors, wholesalers and retailers of this product throughout the country have raised the prices tremendously on the limited supply of the TCL brand cement.
This has caused a number of regular customers to either pay the high prices for the TCL cement or settle for other brands on the local market.
Reports are that the TCL cement which was usually sold for around $1,400 per sack is now being sold at $1,900.
Kaieteur News was also told that a sling (35 sacks) of TCL cement was sold for about $48,000 early last week. However, a few days later a sling was being sold for about $56,000.
This heightened price was put into effect sometime this week.
When Kaieteur News visited one cement retail business, Anral Shipping, on Wednesday, staff explained that their stock of TCL cement had “just finished” and they were expecting to have another shipment tomorrow or by Monday.
One employee told this newspaper that, due to the strike in Trinidad, the TCL cement is now scarce and that has caused companies in Guyana to raise their prices.
Although many of the customers complained about the “bare faced robbery” the said company has continued to sell cement at high prices during the past week.
One man told Kaieteur News that it was unfair that some distributors and retailers of this product would raise prices on their stocks especially for their regular customers.
“The thing is that some places have cement in stock so why are they raising the prices on what they have already? We would usually buy from them, so now this problem is happening they seem to be capitalising now. This is not right and they should not raise the prices for old stock,” said the man.
A contractor, who is currently building a house on Hadfield Street, stated that he was not aware of the high prices for the TCL cement.
He is lucky that his workers had purchased the said cement a week ago in a large quantity before the industrial action in Trinidad took effect in Guyana.
“You see we bought a set of cement and have it stored, so we don’t have to go buy for just now, therefore we aren’t affected as yet. But we will monitor how we use it from now because the prices it now selling for is way too much than before. I also hear that other cement like Titan and West Indies cement selling expensive now because people ain’t got much access to TCL right now,” the contractor said.
He explained that there seems to be a problem with the quality of the Titan cement which is shipped from Dominica.
Many persons have already complained that the Titan cement is substandard and the concrete structures built with it, are weak.
“The Titan cement makes inferior stuff and the people who selling it already raise prices because people have no choice but to buy their substandard cement. Is either they stall up their work or use the inferior cement, and in the end, it will cause more expense too.”
Meanwhile, a businessman whose is now erecting a new building to facilitate the various departments of his establishment, is also lamenting the steep rise in cement prices.
“We are not using TCL cement but using West Indies cement and it is of good quality because I’m not getting problems with it. But the price for the sling of cement (40 sacks) has risen by more than a few thousand dollars. It is because of the TCL strike that this has happened.”
Cobeer Persaud (Anand), owner of a dental laboratory at Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara contacted Kaieteur News on Thursday to highlight the fact that retailers and wholesalers of cement are exploiting their customers.
In a fury, he explained that at present, he has contractors at his premises carrying out some infrastructural work using cement.
Usually, he would purchase all his cement supplies from the Anral Shipping Company (TCL cement) and he directed the men to make the purchase there.
Three days ago the workmen visited the company to purchase TCL cement but were told that there was none in stock.
They were offered the alternative of purchasing another brand of cement ‘ARGOS’ which is produced in Columbia, South America.
This newspaper understands that the men bought the sacks of cement and returned to conduct the work at Persaud’s residence.
They mixed the ARGOS cement with the sand and bricks to complete their jobs but were dismayed at the finished product.
“If customers are not prepared to pay that price for their usual trusted TCL brand, they are being sold a different and more inferior brand named ARGOS. The ARGOS cement is a very inferior kind and while using it, I made this discovery,” said Persaud.
According to the highly upset man, he was forced to rip the tiles that were laid on the cement mixture made from the ARGOS brand. He had no choice but to dispose of all the materials that were used.
“I made contact with the company for them to come see the inferiority of the cement they sold me to see whether it was the cement or the stuff I used. The representative told me that they don’t have time to come and see.”
Persaud went to Anral Shipping where he questioned the legality of the sales of the ARGOS cement.
“I wanted to know why they selling another brand of cement and they have a franchise with TCL. They also sold it without issuing receipts and they told me that they selling for somebody else. I wanted TCL cement to do my work because the ARGOS was not fit for anything and when I threatened to call in Bureau of Standards or Customs, then they found TCL cement to sell me.”
According to the TRINIDAD GUARDIAN newspapers, one week has passed since the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) served its strike action over the disparity in wages.
The plant at Claxton Bay was shut down and this caused panic in the construction industry after the management had confirmed that there was only enough cement to supply the market for one week.
The OWTU has also attempted to block the importation of cement from TCL’s regional partners in Jamaica and Barbados by calling on its trade union counterparts to show solidarity with their action.
(Kristen Macklingam)

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