Jun 2016 Financial News

TCL files complaint about cement from Turkey

Jun 06, 2016

Claxton Bay-based TCL has submitted an official complaint to the Caricom Secretariat in Guyana about a cargo of 11 tonnes of bulk cement from Turkey that is due to dock in Trinidad next week, after offloading 10 tonnes in Barbados on Wednesday, industry sources told the T&T Guardian yesterday.

The complaint, which was confirmed by TCL chief executive Jose Luis Seijo, raises the possibility that the cargo heading to Trinidad may be classified in a way that allows the importer to avoid paying the 15 per cent Common External Tariff (CET) but pay a reduced tariff of five per cent. The cement producer, which has operations in Jamaica, Barbados and T&T, based its argument to the Caricom Secretariat on the fact that a cargo of cement was imported into Barbados in November 2016 and was misclassified as “other hydraulic cement,” on which was levied a tariff of five per cent. Seijo also complained that imports of cement drain the country’s limited supply of foreign exchange, whereas TCL is a net earner of foreign exchange in its three production facilities.

Source:
Trinidad Guardian, A15
Saturday June 4, 2016