THE Government, via the Ministry of Trade and Industry, has responded to news that Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) intends to raise the prices of its cement products effective December 20.
A letter from TCL, dated Monday December 13, announced the price of Premium Plus Cement will increase by 15 per cent and Eco-cement by eight per cent. While researching prices and the increase to come, Newsday noted a disparity in the listed price of TCL's Premium Plus Cement. The company's website states a 42.5kg bag to be $53.00 vat inclusive, in its letter today, the company stated that the increased price for a 42.5kg bag of the same will be $46.56.
In a letter to industry partners and stakeholders on December 13, TCL manager Reshma Gooljar-Singh said the company can no longer maintain its prices, as input costs continue to rise. Gooljar-Singh said the main costs include natural gas, imported spares and raw materials needed to manufacture quality cement.
In January TCL said the company had no intentions of any immediate or short-term price increases, this came in the wake of their competitor, Rock Hard raising its cement prices after tariffs were removed and duties were increased on the import of cement and raw materials. In July the company promised to maintain its prices despite significant losses. TCL said these losses were as a result of the government's covid19 regulations.
However, the ministry in a press release at 12.43 pm on Monday, said that two public policy adjustments were done to allow for additional volumes of extra-regional cement to enter Trinidad and Tobago, at a lower rate of duty, to ensure cement remains competitively priced.
The ministry said that when it became aware of impending cement price increases in November, on the 18th of that month, Cabinet agreed to a revision of the Quota and Import Licensing Regime for cement for 2022.
As such, the maximum quota ceiling for cement allowed for importation will be set at 150,000 tonnes (an increase from 75,000 tonnes in 2021) with each existing registered importer receiving a 50 per cent increase in their quota allocation in 2022.
The ministry's release added that during a special meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (Coted) of Caricom on December 10, and at the request of TT, Coted agreed to a suspension of the CET (common external tariff) and increase of the rate of duty to 20 per cent on other hydraulic cements of HS 2523.90.00 for the one year period, January 1 to December 31, 2022.
Coted had previously approved a suspension of the CET and increase of the rate of duty to 50 per cent on other hydraulic cements of HS 2523.90.00 for the one year (January 1 to December 31, 2021) therefore, for the period January 01, 2022 to December 31, 2022, the rate of duty on other hydraulic cements will now be 20 per cent from the previous 50 per cent.
These measures, the ministry said, will also ensure the continued viability of the local cement manufacturing industry (which is a net f
