BOB Marley, who would have turned 80 two weeks ago, sang of those “sucking the blood of sufferers.”
The latest increase in the retail price of cement – the fifth in three years – is an illustration of such predatory practice.
The government and the Fair Trading Commission casually sat back as monopolist Trinidad Cement Ltd., (TCL) imposed another price hike.
TCL, which is 70 per cent owned by Mexican giant Cemex, made $415 million pre-tax profit in its most recent nine months.
The local cement maker has blamed operational costs, and the price of energy and raw material.
But that argument does not hold up amid TCL’s ongoing soaring profits.
The company flaunts those price increases in the absence of marketplace competition, with local distributor Hard Rock being driven out of business in September 2021.
The Rowley Government hiked import duties by 900 per cent and placed stringent import limitations on Rock Hard.
A total of 68 workers were thrown on the breadline.
Rock Hard’s stated mission was to “provide consumers with high quality and affordable cement.”
TCL’s price increase is a further burden on home builders and contractors, and would inevitably send up the cost of house construction.
Yet the authorities are indifferent to this concrete scandal.
In an almost muted manner, the Trinidad and Tobago Contractors Association voiced concerns about the impact of the price hike.
But there is no rallying of members, outrage by consumer groups, or indignation by the media and public commentators.
It is another oppressive burden that the public would be made to grin and bear.
And, with the government’s indifference, it may not be the last of such TCL capricious rises, which means that construction costs are likely to continue to climb.
That is in an environment of all-round inflation and a virtual freeze on salaries and wages.
The Fair Trading Commission has made itself into a toothless tiger by refusing to step in amid business monopolies.
The Commission looked the other way as a monopoly developed in the importation of pharmaceuticals.
In February 2024, when TCL implemented one of its price hikes, the Commission said it “remains fully committed to monitoring increases in cement prices to determine whether these increased prices are … a result of anti-competitive practices.”
The Commission acknowledged: “Such practices may include but are not limited to abuses of monopoly power.”
The Fair Trading Act prohibits the abuse of pricing power.
The Commission said it was “actively taking steps to address and assess the announced increase in cement price.”
The country did not hear again from the Commission on that price escalation.
And there has not been a word on the latest TCL manoeuvre.
Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon has remained equally aloof of the issue, as she has done with respect to most matters under her watch.
So Cemex is expected to continue to bolster its financial bottom line through arbitrary price increases while the government and watchdog agency are callous and unmoved.
Marley’s comment has never been more relevant.
