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Concrete company falls on hard times

Published:Wednesday | June 21, 2017 | 12:00 AMChristopher Serju

A significant decline in sales has forced Hardrock Concrete Mix, a Spanish Town-based manufacturer of pre-mixed concrete to shutter its operation even though there is strong demand for the construction material.

"I haven't sold any concrete since January so we just close it. I just tell the people we no longer doing it," director Nigel Bloomfield told The Gleaner on Wednesday. He was responding to questions about a press advertisement published on Monday which bluntly stated: "Hardrock Concrete Mix has been closed and is no longer trading" effective June 13, 2017.

"The demand is there, the big competition is there and you not getting the price," he added.

 

Fleet reduction

 

Owned and operated by Supreme Block Factory Company at 56 Job Lane in the St Catherine, the company's trucks were reduced to four from six as a result of traffic crashes but worker apathy was also a major factor in the company's declining fortunes.

"They weren't taking care of the equipment so the equipment them run down. A demand is there, a big demand but other problem is that even though the demand is there, the pricing is not there and the drivers weren't really taking care of the trucks any at all and we weren't really getting the price," Bloomfield added.

A Gleaner check of the Yellow Pages found seven manufactures of pre-mixed concrete with Jamaica Pre-mix Concrete Limited (Pre-mix) having the greatest reach - two branches in western Jamaica, another two in central Jamaica, in addition to the its Corporate Area head office.