The Trinidad Cement Limited Group says that it can supply more cement than Guyana currently needs and has a production capacity of more than what the Caribbean Community currently demands.
In a statement last evening that company said that it wished to confirm its commitment to fully satisfy Guyana’s cement market. It said that its bagging terminal in Guyana, TCL Guyana Inc (TGI), “could currently supply 20,000 MT of cement per month to a market that is not expected to consume more than 12,000 MT per month at this time”.
The company noted that last year, Guyana consumed 134 000 MT of cement at an average 11 166 MT per month. It said that this falls 15% to a projected 115,000 MT (9583 MT/month) in 2009. This level of decline is consistent with regional markets from Trinidad to Jamaica, the company asserted.
The statement pointed out that cement consumption has contracted globally and in many countries plants have been shut down. Regionally, it said, cement consumption is in its second year of decline, from a high in 2007.
“The current global recession is the worst in 80 years and CARICOM countries are challenged to maintain growth in their Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is likely to be reflected in the levels of cement consumption in 2010”, the company stated.
It declared that the Group, with its cement manufacturing facilities in Trinidad, Jamaica and Barbados is confident of its ability to supply 100% of the cement demand in the CARICOM Market. Trinidad Cement and Arawak Cement have an annual production capacity of 1.2 million and 360,000 tonnes of cement respectively, while the recently concluded expansion and modernization of Carib Cement’s facilities in Jamaica now enable that plant to produce approximately 1 476 000 tonnes per annum. Consequently, the Group has a combined cement production capacity in excess of 3 million tonnes annually across its three plants. This is against an estimated current demand of 2.2 million tonnes for the CARICOM market, the statement declared.
It went on to state that all the cement plants in the TCL Group are ISO 9000 certified and have rigorous procedures for inter-company testing. The Group is confident that all cement, which it manufactures and supplies, is consistent with local and international standards for cement. A challenge to the cement produced in the TCL Group is also a challenge to the International Standards Organisations and their certifying and monitoring regimes. TCL Group products meet and surpass ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) and BSEN (British European Standards Specifications) standards, the statement declared.
