Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton (right) addressing the media on Cabinet’s decision to place a ban on the scrap metal trade at his New Kingston office on Tuesday, July 26, 2011. The decision comes against the background of widespread pillaging of metal over the past three years, as well as failure by the scrap metal trade, despite warnings , to implement sufficient measures to curb metal theft.
Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce has announced the ban on the export of all scrap metal.
Industry Minister, Christopher Tufton says the decision to ban all exports of scrap metal was due to rampant theft of scrap metal that has plagued the country for the past three years, as well as the failure of the industry to implement measures to curb metal theft. He estimates that scrap metal theft has cost the government and the private sector more than $1 billion in the past three years, while the scrap metal industry only generates $20 million in revenue per year.
However, Tufton says, the Cabinet has made arrangements that could be put in place by the end of the year that would allow companies generating their own scrap metal to apply for permits to export the material.
Tufton instructed all scrap metal exporters with inventories on hand to collect their containers from Jamaica’s ports by July 22. Containers must be packed and returned to the port by July 29. Thereafter, no new scrap metal will be accepted at the port for export, Tufton says.
“The natural generation of scrap, based on the operations of legitimate businesses, is taking place at a slower pace than the appetite that exists out there to satisfy the many players who are attempting to make a living out of the collection and export of scrap and, as a consequence, persons are engaged in illicit activities which ultimately has a negative impact on legitimate operations,” the Industry Minister says.
He added that if the industry is to move forward, there needs to be a significant consolidation in the number of sites available for the inspection of scrap metal.
“Even though the rules require sites to be inspected and the loading of containers and the exporting of containers to be subjected to inspections, the logistics and the practicality of doing that, because of the number of sites that exist out there, make it almost impossible. Therefore, if this industry is to continue, one would have to look at major consolidation of those sites. That’s a proposal on the way forward,” Tufton says.
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