Sabrina Gordon, Business Reporter

A truck load of bagged cement leaves the Caribbean Cement Company Limited's Rockfort plant in Kingston in this 2006 Gleaner photo. Hardware merchants say they expect to receive regular cement supplies later this week. - file

Some hardware merchants report that they are still out of cement while others have been limiting sales to customers.

Meantime, monopoly cement producer, whose capacity has been curtailed by damage from Hurricane Dean, said it would provide answers today on the shortfalls.

The company's spokeswoman Lystra Sharpe told Wednesday Business yesterday that Carib Cement would proffer no more explanation on the shortages until today's briefing, but individual checks with retailers of the commodity suggested that stocks were near depleted.

"We are completely out of stock and have been informed by persons at Carib Cement that we will get as soon as the cement is passed by the Bureau of Standard," said Basil Phillips, general manager and proprietor of Phil's Hardware in Kingston.

Mainland International said it was in a similar position.

No cement in stock

"We currently have no cement in stock, whether imported or local and are in discussion with Carib Cement in an effort to get some," said vice president of new business, Garth Walker.

Hardware 2000 said it got a small supply Monday. "We got 400 bags, which was sold off immediately and we have got some indication that some will be supplied by tomorrow (Wednesday)", said Richard Davis of Hardware 2000.

Phillips also reported that he got a limited amount of 1,000 bags on Tuesday, which he had to limit to 10 bags per customers.

On a normal basis, he reported, daily sales would be approximately 3,000 bags between his two stores.

Reports have surfaced that Carib Cement, whose capacity was reported at 90 per cent following its recovery from Hurricane Dean, has been experiencing some logistics problems at its Rockfort plant and so was not able to dispatch its regular supply of cement to customers.

In the meantime, of the stores surveyed the Spanish Town Road branch of Hardware and Lumber was the only operator that was upbeat, saying it was assured of normal supplies by Carib Cement during this week.

At the same time, however, the store too was out of cement when checks were made.

"At the moment I have been informed that we are out of stock but do not foresee a crisis, as we have been promised our normal supply to be delivered some time during the course of the week," said Oscar Carr, general manager at H&L's Spanish Town Road store.

In the wake of Hurricane Dean, Anthony Haynes, the general manager of Carib Cement, reported that the plant had suffered no major disruptions, with the most significant loss being in the area of process stock.

Haynes said, however, that adequate finished-goods inventory were in stock to supply the market.

The last cement shortage, a year ago, resulted from faulty cement on the market and the subsequent lockdown of operations to correct the faults.

Earned profit

For the six month period ended June 2007, Carib Cement Company Limited earned a consolidated profit after tax of $251.8 million, this compared to a loss of $234.3 million in the corresponding period last year.

The loss was as a result of the inclusion of a provision of $160 million for claims relating to the release of 'non-conforming' cement to the market.

Sales volume for the six months to June 2007 declined by eight per cent over the prior year period.

sabrina,gordon@gleanerjm.com