A month after losing a lawsuit against Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Trade, Rock Hard Distributors Ltd, a subsidiary of Barbadian cement maker Rock Hard Cement, has pulled its operations there.
Rock Hard Distributors Ltd in Trinidad and Tobago, a subsidiary of the Mark Maloney-owned firm, informed its clients earlier this month of the intention to shut shop, putting some 68 people out of work and affecting another 112 jobs created by a shipment every six weeks.
The company is expected to wind up operations on Friday. It will not have any impact on Rock Hard Cement’s other operations.
The St Lucia-based Rock Hard Cement, which was established in 2015 and entered the Trinidadian market in 2016, also has operations in Barbados, Grenada, Dominica, St Vincent, St Maarten, Guyana and Antigua.
Confirming the development to Barbados TODAY, Maloney described the closure as unfortunate, pointing out that the high duties and other import limits had made it difficult for the company to operate in the twin-island republic.
In a statement, he said: “Unfortunately, the combination of a limit on imports of 75 000 tonnes, combined with an import duty of 50 per cent, means that Rock Hard Distributors Ltd. simply cannot operate in Trinidad. It is with extreme sadness and disappointment, therefore, that we have closed our business in Trinidad and will now pursue opportunities in other Caribbean countries until such time as we are afforded equal treatment in our home country.
“Many of you are aware that we have faced continuous challenges from the Government of Trinidad, initially in the form of misclassification, which meant we were charged a higher rate of duty than was legally allowed for our cement. Despite succeeding before the Caribbean Court of Justice we were immediately faced with a 600 per cent rise in import duties to 35 per cent for 2020.
“We fought this and were again successful, only for the Government to increase the rate of duty by 900 per cent to 50 per cent at the end of 2020, whilst at the same time imposing a quota limiting us to importing only 75 000 tonnes of cement for 2021. We have fought the Government on both the rate of duty and the imposition of the quota, and will continue to fight this grotesque injustice and discrimination; however, this is likely to take several years.”
Rock Hard Distributors Ltd. had claimed that the government in Port of Spain had implemented the measures, which took effect on January 1 of this year, without proper consultation.
But the lawsuit was dismissed in mid-July by High Court Judge Jacqueline Wilson.
Rock Hard Cement, which has become a major competitor to the Port of Spain-based Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) Group over the past several years, was responsible for a dip in the price of cement, which was estimated to have fallen by up to 30 per cent at one point.
Rock Hard won a tariff war against TCL and its Barbadian subsidiary Arawak Cement Company Ltd. two years ago.
Back then, the CCJ had ruled that the products are to be classified as “other hydraulic cement” on which the applicable rate of duty under the Common External Tariff – applied to non-CARICOM products – is 0-5 per cent.
Maloney argued CARICOM citizens were deserving of fair treatment and affordable prices.
He said: “We recognize the immense challenge we took on in entering the cement markets in the Caribbean and in particular Trinidad, but we believe the citizens of CARICOM deserve to be treated fairly and to have access to world-class products at affordable prices. We can, however, only continue to operate in those countries across the Caribbean that uphold the principles of fair trade and equality and recognize the rights of all business owners.
“We would like to thank all our customers and partners for your support and loyalty over the past five years. Like many of you, our construction business faced significant challenges prior to 2016 due to the excessive price of cement in Trinidad and the Caribbean. Rock Hard Cement was established in order to provide Caribbean consumers with high quality and affordable cement, and we are grateful that for the past five years we have been able to achieve this goal.”
Noting that the closure could be “temporary”, Managing Director of Rock Hard Distributors Ltd, Ryan Ramhit, told a Trinidadian newspaper that he did not rule out the possibility of going back into that market once the restrictions were eased.
He disclosed that in excess of TT$100 million (BDS$29.7 million) was invested in getting the company started, adding that since its establishment in 2016 he has had to “fight various entities” to stay in the market “to ensure we provide the product that we provide at a particular price”.
“Sometimes you just have to take a little step back and come back better and stronger if you can,” he said. “My aim has always been to have Rock Hard Cement on the market.”
“Since January, when everything was put in place by the government, even though I had no business at that point, I decided to keep my employees on. Unfortunately, there is only so much you can extend your hand at this point. We have a nice group of employees,” Ramhit added.
(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)
