A new player, W.T. Limited, is about to enter Jamaica’s cement market.

It is understood that the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce has granted approval for an import licence to the W.T. Limited trading as GROWTH TECH SPECIAL PROJECTS.

The licence will cover the importation of 50,000 metric tonnes of Ordinary Portland Cement OPC from Turkey. The amount is to be imported in several batches over time.

W.T LIMITED T/GROWTH TECH SPECIAL PROJECTS Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Growth Tech Group. The company was founded by Garth Walker, Ryan Reid and Neil Lawrence in 2017.

MOSTLY SELF-SUFFICIENT

Currently there are two importers of cement in the island – CEMEX (Caribbean Cement Company) and The Buying House Cement Limited, a back-up supplier of cement during the peak demand months. Caribbean Cement is also the sole manufacturer of cement, but a portion of the market is supplied from imports.

The local cement industry has been mostly self-sufficient over the years, but with the increased demand and growing shortages, other players are expected to enter the market.

This agreement comes right on the heels of shortage of cement and the announcement by Carib Cement that as part of its growth strategy it plans to upgrade and increase the capacity of its cement production plant located in Rockfort by 30 per cent.

The plant upgrade will enable Caribbean Cement to push cement production capacity from 1.0 million tonnes to close to 1.4 million tonnes a year.