Paray: Import restrictions on pasta, cement will hurt consumers

HIGHER prices and shortages will be suffered by local consumers because of the Government’s restrictions on the imports of pasta and cement, says Mayaro MP Rushton Paray.

In a statement to the media on Sunday, Paray said: “The Government must withdraw its recent bizarre import restrictions on certain vital products and hold meaningful discussions with stakeholders.

“The questionable imposition of taxes on pasta and quotas on cement products could lead to domestic monopolies on these products and would cause inevitable price increases.”

Saying the Central Bank has recently said consumers already face food inflation, Paray said the move to single out imported pasta for increased taxes is both abnormal and curious and would only benefit a certain local manufacturer.

“This trade protectionist measure could have the effect of sending up the grocery bills of the average consumer, since pasta is a popular food item.”

Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon, in a brief reply by text to a query by Newsday, said: “Pasta from Costa Rica and Guyana continue to enter tariff free. No price increase is expected in local pasta. The Consumer Affairs Division will continue to monitor.”

Paray also criticised the ministry’s recent cement restrictions.

“The decision to introduce a quota and licensing regime for imported cement is equally baffling, since it would cause an extensive product shortage and increased retail costs.

“Further, the limited cement imports would hamper the construction industry, which is one of the pillars upon which the Government is aiming to resuscitate the economy. This measure would also result in job losses at domestic manufacturing operations, since the announced quotas amount to just 15 per cent of annual domestic needs.”

Paray said the Government had not outlined a guiding policy for the pasta and cement restrictions, and it appeared decisions were taken in an ad hoc manner.

“The Ministry of Trade and Industry must immediately revisit these unjustified and restrictive moves, and must hold purposeful discussions with manufacturing, retail and consumer interests.

"In order to conserve precious foreign exchange, the ministry could, instead, consider limiting the importation of luxury and non-essential items.”

He claimed any failure to take these steps would show the Government was moving by stealth to protect certain manufacturers and to inflict financial hardship on the national community.

“Consumers should agitate in order to force the Government to reverse these backward and punitive decisions.”

In a Newsday story on Sunday headlined Rock Hard Cement Battle, the distribution company complained about having to shut down for one month owing to recent limits set on cement imports under the Customs Act last December.

The ministry, on its website on December 7, announced a 75,000 tonne limit for 2021 on the import of each of building/grey cement and other hydraulic cements. The ministry, in a statement cited in the Sunday Newsday, had opted to not reply to the concerns of the Rock Hard company which it noted had filed legal proceedings.