PRIME Minister Bruce Golding Thursday night chided the Caribbean Cement Company for what he described as a ‘less than encouraging corporate behaviour’ in implementing an 8.5 per cent price increase following a production shortfall.

But it was the decision by the island’s sole manufacturer of cement to export cement to Suriname after the company told the nation that it could not supply the local demand, that truly concerned the prime minister.

Golding, speaking at the official opening of the Tenth Home and Hardware Show, put on by the Hardware Merchants Association (HMA) at the National Arena, said that the cement manufacturer exported 2,700 tonnes of cement to Suriname even after announcing its inability to supply the local market. Carib Cement, added Golding, did not advise the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of its plan to export the product.

“In the midst of the shortage of cement and the significant implication that has to the economy, the company found it possible and necessary to dispatch yesterday (Wednesday) a shipment of 2,700 tonnes of cement to Suriname, again without advising the minister in their meeting with him last week,” Golding said.

Yesterday, Anthony Haynes, the cement company’s managing director, was said to be off the island, but Lystra Sharpe, public relations manager, told the Observer that the export arrangements with Suriname was one that the company could not shelve.

“This is a contract made six weeks ago which we were paid for and we could hardly get out of,” said Sharpe.

She added that Carib Cement was indeed sensitive to the shortage as there were other arrangements for cement export that the company had shelved.

In his first official presentation after the opening of Parliament on Thursday, the prime minister said that he has advised the minister of industry and commerce, Karl Samuda, to meet with Carib Cement in order to establish the parameters of its relationship with government.

“They need to make every effort to ensure that they become facilitators to the construction industry and not obstacles to the growth of the industry,” Golding told hardware merchants Thursday night.

“It is not the kind of corporate partnership that we expect from a company with privilege,” said the prime minister.

Carib Cement’s Lystra Sharpe, meanwhile, said the company was ready and willing to work with the government.

“We have the same goals that government has,” said Sharpe.

In the meantime, in order to ensure stability in the market, Golding said that 100,000 tonnes of cement would be imported in the “coming weeks”.

Independent suppliers, he said, had given a commitment of 60,000 tonnes while a further 40,000 tonnes would be brought in from Cuba.

Also, the cement company has imported 9,000 tonnes of cement from Colombia, and advised that Sharpe should be in the island by the week of October 7.