Make scrap-metal trade seasonal

THE EDITOR, Sir:

INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT in Jamaica reached its nadir in the 1990s. So, by 2006 most of the industrial scrap iron was exported with little replacement. This, however, did not daunt the gatherers of scrap iron. They had to 'eat a food' and wherever they saw metal it was viewed as scrap. They became the scourge of the government, industries and the citizenry at large. They moved valuable parts from both government and private installation.

This includes bridges, manhole covers, telephone and electricity infrastructure, and machinery (including a D-9 bulldozer) - all these running into hundred of millions of dollars. The scrap metal is sold at approximately $10,000 per ton, which is a very small fraction of the actual cost of the metal parts stolen. These parts have got to be replaced using scarce foreign exchange. It also means a lot of lost productive time. At present, there is not enough real scrap metal available to support the many players in the market.

Action must be taken to prevent cannibalisation of good equipment and parts. We may now be at a point where the cost of replacement parts far exceed money earned from scrap metal. The country must now decide whether scrap metal should be collected and exported at intermittent period, say every three years. This will eliminate the 'eat food at any cost' gatherer and possibly restore some sanity to the trade, save foreign exchange and cut lost production time. Cannibalising good parts and equipment must be terminated at all cost; if not, the industrial and productive sector will surely die.

I am, etc.,

Nitram Gemsingh

Port Maria