Jamaica cement supply stabilises after Hurricane Melissa shortage, minister reports

Senator Aubyn Hill, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, has announced that supply and demand for cement in Jamaica's construction sector have stabilised following shortages linked to Hurricane Melissa in October last year.

Addressing reporters at Wednesday's post-Cabinet media briefing, Hill said sustained efforts to align local production with imports have restored balance in the market. He indicated that current supply is sufficient to meet demand and that cement availability is no longer a pressing concern for the sector.

"We know now that the demand-supply equilibrium is coming back to normalcy," Hill said. "The cement company has imported a lot more. The new importers are out there setting up the arrangements. Cement has become much less of a subject. The shortage has passed and we know that the supply is here to meet that demand."

The minister said cement requirements for the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority would be treated separately from present market allocations. Large reconstruction projects under NARA would call for dedicated supply arrangements distinct from routine construction needs.

"The demand we're looking at does not have anything right now to do with NARA," Hill said. "When NARA comes in, there's going to be a whole different calculation because big projects are going to need special amounts of cement and after the projects, those demands won't be there. So we have to put special arrangements, which we're thinking of and we know that's what we're going to do with the NARA demand, but it's not in this allocation."

Hill also outlined a safety valve intended to guard against future shortages. Government granted one importer the right to bring in cement equivalent to up to 15 per cent of the cement company's production capacity. The cement company may also receive import allowances when factory closures require supplementary supplies.