Dear Editor,

We don’t like misinformation, and for obvious reasons. This is why we are surprised that a newspaper of the calibre of the Observer is so easily fooled by the unsubstantiated rhetoric being peddled by Minister Karl Samuda about the “M word” — monopoly.

We do not like monopolies, nor do we strive to be one. We want to be treated fairly, as is our right as a corporate citizen of Jamaica. A monopoly is a “firm that has the ability to set prices or regulate output independently of competitive forces”. Now while that may apply to some companies in Jamaica, it certainly does not apply to Carib Cement.

If the editor will reflect, the Jamaican cement market over the past decade has been characterised by robust competition — in most cases unfair competition. There has been cement coming in from China, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, Russia, Egypt, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and recently the United States. All of these importers (except the US) paid the CET and competed with Carib Cement.

How then can someone reasonably accuse Carib Cement of being a monopoly? And how can one say that applying the CET creates a monopoly? It certainly defies logic!

Carib Cement has argued, like many other producers across the world, that it is entitled to operate in an atmosphere of free and fair trade as espoused by the WTO. That means: no dumping, no predatory pricing, no breaches of the Treaty of Chaguaramas, no manipulation of tariff numbers to avoid taxes, no favouritism, and no illegal waivers of the CET.

Every time we raise these issues, the importers pull out the “M word” to stir up emotions, when a dispassionate examination of the facts cannot support such an assertion. When the “M word” doesn’t work, they then pull out the “T word” (Trinidadian) to add fuel to the fire.

Mr Editor, you go ahead and encourage the minister to undermine the local cement industry, waste foreign exchange, breach Jamaica’s international trade obligations, turn a blind eye to tariff manipulation, and provide unequal treatment to certain importers. However, don’t be surprised when Jamaica finds that it is unable to pull itself out of the current economic crisis that it is in.

If you are comfortable with regular trips to the IMF and a constant depreciation of the dollar, then “bully for you, Mr Samuda”. For our part in Carib Cement, we will continue to demand that we are treated fairly and that officials and importers obey the laws of Jamaica. We will continue to invest in new plant and equipment, export to earn foreign exchange, employ Jamaicans to manufacture rather than resell, pay our taxes and build this country. If that makes us unpopular, then so be it.

Dr Rollin Bertrand

Group CEO

TCL Group

Trinidad

The Carib Cement plant in Kingston.