THOMAS
Al Edwards, Financial Editor
CONTROVERSY CONTINUES to swirl around the level of duty that should be placed on a recent shipment of imported Egyptian cement brought in by Mainland with Jamaican Customs now declaring it as Portland cement, thereby attracting a tariff of some $100 million, Wednesday Business understands.
Mainland, a Jamaican company supplying im-ported cement brought in a shipment of 36,500 tonnes of cement at a cost of approximately US$4 million from an Egyptian supplier last month.
Arriving at Port Esquivel, St Catherine Mainland did not anticipate any problem off-loading the cement once it had undergone the usual Customs procedures. However Customs declared that there would be a 24 hour delay while it determined what tariff should be applied to this imported shipment.
Speaking with Wednesday Business last week, a Mainland spokesperson said : "We expected to pay some $30 million to clear the cement in question only to be told by Customs that we would have to pay $103 million. We maintain that a tariff duty should not apply to blended cement. Tariff code 2523.291 applies to building cement which was gazetted whereas tariff code 2523.90 applies to blended cement."
TESTS
It came down to a question of determining whether the shipment in question was blended or Portland cement. In order to ascertain the correct grade of cement and so what duty should be applied, the Bureau of Standards conducted two tests last month-one, to determine whether it was fit to enter the country and secondly, a chemical test to establish the type of cement coming into the country.
The imported cement passed both tests with the Bureau of Standards deeming it fit to leave the ship as blended cement bound for Mainland's premises.
'PORTLAND' CEMENT
However, that did not satisfy Jamaica Customs who decided to conduct its own tests one in Canada and the other in the United States with both tests concluding that the cement in question is "Portland" and so attracts a tariff of some $100 million.
Commenting last week on these latest tests by Jamaica Customs, the Exe-cutive Director of the Bureau of Standards, Dr. Omer Thomas said: "We conducted our tests in early April and found that the imported cement in question is a blended cement. Now if what is reported by the client (Mainland) is true, that Cus-toms has ignored our tests and conducted its own, it will set a dangerous precedent which means im-porters can ignore tests conducted by the Bureau and appeal to some entity that doesn't have the authority to conduct tests.
"The laboratories used by Jamaica Customs is not internationally recognised, it is not accredited, nor is it certified."
An industry spokesperson speaking under anonymity said: "It does not augers well when you have two Government entities squabbling like this, it sends the wrong message to the public. This bhruhaha just creates confusion but what is more worrying is the fact that Jodie Myrie whose family practically owns and operates Mainland is on the Board of Directors of the Bureau of Standards."
