SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth – Hardware operators in this south central town are complaining of a shortage of cement which they say has been ongoing for months.

Shernett Ebanks, supervisor at leading construction retailers Levon Electrical and Hardware Ltd, told OBSERVER ONLINE  that over the past three months supplies of cement produced by Carib Cement Company had dwindled by in excess of two-thirds in some cases.

“Almost every week, we run out,” said Ebanks. “In the past, we would get at least 1800 bags of cement (per week), now we only getting about 500 bags,” said Ebanks.

Efforts to get a response from Carib Cement in late afternoon failed. A telephone responder at the company’s headquarters in east Kingston explained that those mandated to speak on behalf of the company had left work for the weekend.

However, an authoritative source in the retail trade said the shortage had nothing to do with actual production at Carib Cement but was the result of what  he referred to as serious “market distortions” in the distributive trade.  

On Thursday, Levon’s was without cement, Ebanks said. And while there was a delivery of 500 bags of cement on Friday, that was likely to be finished by late Saturday, she said.

A spokesperson for another leading cement retailer in Santa Cruz who declined to be identified said her store was without cement on Friday. She was hoping for a limited supply to arrive on Saturday.

Ebanks said the cement shortage had negatively impacted business for her company. “Cement is central to building,” she explained, “so if there is no cement, the customer sees no sense in buying other items”.

Garfield Myers