Commerce, Science and Technology Minister, Phillip Paulwell, is today expected to outline the government’s position on the call for the removal of a 41 per cent import duty on cement.

Minister of Information, Senator Burchell Whiteman told reporters at yesterday’s weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House that the matter was discussed at Cabinet.

"The minister will make a statement on the matter shortly," he said when asked by reporters what had been decided by the government.

The Incorporated Master Builders Association and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party in recent days have renewed calls for the removal of the duty in light of a shortage of the product on the market.

They also pointed to the 12.5 per cent price increase announced by the country’s only producer of cement, Caribbean Cement Company Ltd, and the expected increases in construction costs that will result.