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 Business News | June 2005 
Group Urges Use of Mexican-Made Cement to Ease Shortages
 Birmingham Business Journal
| | U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez |
The Associated General Contractors of America today asked the U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to allow cement produced in Mexico into the United States to ease shortages and head off economic disruption.
"We urge the secretary to head off a crisis that could spread throughout the economy by concluding agreements with domestic cement producers to suspend the anti-dumping duty on Mexican cement," said AGC CEO Stephen E. Sandherr in a press release.
The move was based on reports received in the past week by the Washington, D.C.-based trade association from concrete suppliers and contractors who say they are dealing with quotas, delays and possible layoffs due to the shortage. The reports came from hardest-hit states Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Florida.
"What makes these reports especially alarming is that they are coming at the beginning of the high-demand season for cement, meaning more severe problems are almost certain in the near future," said Sandherr.
Alabama contractors are seeing the most difficulty in coastal areas still rebuilding from last year's hurricanes, says James Rives, director of special project for Alabama AGC. Some companies, says Rives, have been forced to wait two weeks or longer for concrete.
The national AGC expresses concern that some of the hardest-hit states experienced no shortages last year, or reported them later in the year. This means that shortages likely are to be more widespread than in the 35 states in which shortages were reported in November 2004.
Receiving cement from Mexico via barge or rail would reduce delays created by congestion for ocean carriers and U.S. ports, the national AGC says.
AGC represents more than 33,000 firms and is the largest and oldest national construction trade association in the United States. |
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