Year 2000 solid for cement plant
Publication: Business Authority
Paper Section And Page: 3
Paper Date: Mon, Dec 11, 2000
Byline: by Bernard Babb
SALES REVENUE for 2000 at the Arawak Cement Company is projected at $47 million and represents a three per cent growth over last year. Much of this is being credited to a bouyant construction industry in Barbados and the wider Caribbean, which has seen the consumption of cement in the Barbados market alone rise to record levels over the past three years.
Reports on the success and challenges of the three main companies in the Trinidad Cement Limited Group (TCL) were made Saturday night at the annual awards ceremony of the Arawak Company at Sherbourne. According to Arawak's chairman Walton James, cement production at the Barbados plant is expected to reach 260 000 tonnes this year, up from 253 000 in 1999. By 2001, volume is expected to rise by a further 12 per cent. Cement consumption in the Barbados market, which stood at a record 130 000 tonnes last year, is on course to being surpassed by 4 000 tonnes, while more than 125 000 tonnes of the cement produced is exported to other Eastern Caribbean territories as well as Guyana, Suriname and St. Maarten.
While the performance of the Barbados plant, acquired from Government in 1994, was again encouraging, TCL chairman Andy Bhajan told the Barbados Business Authority that the new acquistion in Jamaica was also showing itself as a worthy investment. Caribbean Cement in Jamaica, he said, was expected to record a profit of JAM$260 million and the group is postioning itself for a new acquisition of a packaging plant in Kingston. Overall, he said, demand was strong in TCL's export markets and production capacity at the three plants was stretched over the past year.
"Demand is very strong in the English speaking Caribbean and we expect it to remain bouyant well into 2001," Bhajan said.
TCL, which boast a proud record of turning around loss-making state-owned cement companies, has been working to define itself as an international group and according to the chairman, there must be continuous re-configuration of its structures. The chairman said the group was fully aware of stiffer competition in a changing global environment.
"Consumers are demanding high quality and choice. In this environment, we must be able to compete with the best, to meet the highest standards and to take our rightful place in the world", he said.
Operations in Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica will continue to be centres of investment for TCL, while parallel development in related activities such as packaging and ready-mixed concrete will be pursued. Bhajan, an attorney-at-law in Trinidad, also reported that TCL intends to explore opportunities for expansion, diversification and development in Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The TCL Group currently employs about 1000 at the three plants and produces around 1.7 million tonnes of cement annually.