FALMOUTH, Trelawny — As homeowners scurry to pick up the pieces and repair their houses damaged during the October 28 passage of Hurricane Melissa, some are being confronted with the unexpected decline in the supply of cement at a number of hardwares in Trelawny and other parts of the island.

Speaking to the Jamaica Observer last Friday, one homeowner who the Sunday Observer caught up with at a Falmouth hardware complained that plans to carry out repairs over the weekend to her roof, which was damaged during the Category 5 storm, would have to be pushed back to a later date. She disclosed that construction workers, who were prepared to replace the damaged zinc roof with concrete slab, would be unable to get cement to undertake the casting.

“Cement short bad, bad, bad, and to make matters worse, me couldn’t buy them to store because my area in south Trelawny is cold, and I don’t want them to hard up on me and spoil. But, apart from that, I have been getting other [building] materials to buy little, little,” the young woman, who withheld her name, noted.

Operator of the popular Just In Hardware in Falmouth, Alex Chen, disclosed that for the past two weeks the business has been running out of cement.

“We have all building material to meet our customers’ demands, but [we] don’t have any cement, none at all, for the past two weeks,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Albert Town businessman Hugh Grant, the operator of Grant’s Hardware in Albert Town, noted that since the hurricane there has been a steady supply of construction material to meet the demand for repairs, but, currently, cement is out of stock. He was, however, hesitant to attribute it to a shortage of the product.

“I can’t say cement short, but our order hasn’t come as yet. But I can’t say it is short,” he noted.

But businessman Lloyd Gillings, a hardware operator in the same community, complained bitterly over the loss of business because of what he blamed on the scarcity of cement.

“From my perspective we are now in a crisis as it relates to cement. It’s a crisis, it has become a crisis. It is a crisis. When you check certain suppliers they are not selling you more than five bags, and they start “married” the cement now. Me call a supplier in Old Harbour, [St Catherine], and he is saying that I have to buy something else to get some cement; me have to be driving around the whole world to get little cement,” he bemoaned.

“The big companies get some cement, but when me go to buy they do not even want to take your money because they don’t want to take it and can’t supply it. We not getting any up here [in southern Trelawny],” he said.

He added: “Right now Trelawny better than some part in Manchester, like Knockpatrick, where me starting another little business.

“Me affi go to three different places before me could get 150 bags of cement.”

According to Trelawny building contractor Orville Webb, the shortage of building materials — such as zinc sheetings and nails — that was experienced after the storm have levelled out, and they’ve sufficiently returned to the market. However, he noted that of late there has been a lack of cement.

“Most things are back, like commercial zinc and such, which took me a long time to get. I was so surprised yesterday [last Thursday] when they told me that they did not have any cement when I went to a hardware in Falmouth. Me have to shot go somewhere else go buy it and pay truck man to transport it rather than wait and carry it myself. We have to watch it. It look like it going run short, short,” he said.

For his part, Elisha Steel, a resident of Scarlett Hall in Trelawny, is frustrated over being denied eligibility to benefit under Government’s Restoration of Owner or Occupant Family Shelters (ROOFS) Programme, coupled with an unavailability of cement at a number of hardwares he visited in the parish capital, Falmouth, to source building materials.

“When the people came to assess my house they said they were scared to go on the roof to estimate the damage. Now it is costing me over $400,000 to repair my roof, and when I went to purchase cement today [last Friday], everywhere I go, either they don’t have any or they can’t sell me the full amount I want,” Steel lamented.

The country’s premier cement supplier, Caribbean Cement Company Limited, in a recent release conceded that they are “aware that some customers may be experiencing delays in receiving cement deliveries, and as always, the company is treating this matter with the highest priority”.

“The company confirms that there is no shortage of cement, and production is ongoing at maximum capacity,” the release said.

It further stated that “recent rainfall resulted in excess moisture in raw materials, causing minor operational challenges; however, these issues have since been fully resolved and deliveries are being regularised”.

Meanwhile, at least one businessman, president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jason Russell, while addressing final-year business students at the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica 2025/2026 Western Campus Seminar at Sea Gardens Beach Resort recently recommended the setting aside of funds to recover from disasters in the wake of the sometimes tardy process of settling insurance claims.

“We as business owners have to put a little cash ‘under our mattresses’. We put a little in the back in the event of when something bad happens because we cannot sit and wait on insurance to come in. Insurance will not open your business tomorrow. There’s a long process a lot of times,” he explained.

“My hotel got damaged, and basically I’m getting nothing from insurance. But, luckily, we had some in the back to start work and keep the business going,” he added.

No cement at Just In Hardware’s warehouse in Falmouth, Trelawny.

Herma Gillings shows the little stock of cement she has available at the hardware she and her husband operate in Albert Town, Trelawny.