Why Does Haiti Import Cement When Haiti Is Rich In Limestone?

After thanking him for the 'cerveza' I could not stop thinking about what he said. Why does Haiti import cement?

So I did a little research...

Did you know? The Dominican Republic has six (6) integrated cement plants, Cementos Colón, Cementos Cibao, CEMEX, DOMICEM, Cementos Andino, and Santo Domingo, pumping cement to their local market and exporting about 1 million tons of cement annually.

Guess who is the #1 marketplace for Dominican cement export...

YEP... Haiti Cherie...

DOMICEM alone claims to export 300,000 tons of cement to Haiti and other Caribbean islands.

What about cement manufacturing in Haiti?

Global Cement Magazine released an article in August 2012 stating that "Although Haiti is blessed with natural limestone, a lack of cement production capacity and poor infrastructure prevent much of it from being converted into cement domestically..."

Haiti is open for BUSINESS right?

Sounds to me like we need a serious investor in limestone mining and cement manufacturing in Haiti... Great opportunity here...

If there is any cement tagged as 'made in Haiti', the clinker (the nodule produced by sintering limestone and clay during the cement kiln stage) is actually imported to Haiti to make the final product. In other words, the limestone in Haiti is not being used at all to manufacture cement.

So Haiti is rich in limestone, Haiti is under construction, and Haiti is not producing its own cement which would greatly reduce building costs and boost infrastructure development.

What do you think about that?

Reply with your comments

In case you are interested, read the articles from the Business year, Global Cement, Cemnet and "Du ciment comme des oeufs" from Le Nouveliste

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