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The local market is experiencing a sharp increase in the demand for plywood which has become a scarce commodity as of a week ago. Consumers have already been experiencing a hassle in obtaining the item.Workers’ negligence is believed to be the cause a boiler, a key component used by Barama Company Limited (BCL) to manufacture plywood, to shut down one week ago.The company’s closure has affected the forestry sector and country’s foreign exports earnings tremendously. The fallout was deemed an “unfortunate closure” by officials from the company.The 274 workers who were put out of a job due to the fallout would not be the only ones affected. But as it is, the local market has been crippled with the unexpected fallout of their main supplying source.Building contractors have already witnessed the price for the highly demanded commodity being tripled.The closure of Barama would mean that plywood or alternatives to plywood will have to be imported and hence will cost more to the consumers.One hardware store in Berbice was unaware of Barama’s plight and did not cash in on the last minute rush to stockpile the item.As a result of this, the depot ran out of the item as huge orders started to pore in.In an earlier interview, the authorities had expressed concerns about the stockpiling by local distributors to drive prices up.The exact concern is happening at a hardware depot in Georgetown.A businessman confided in Kaieteur News that after learning about the closure of the plywood factory, he took the opportunity to stock huge piles of the product to be marketed during the Christmas season at a higher prize.The owner of the depot acknowledged that it is a custom to have contractors purchasing more plywood as the year comes to an end.The question that lingers in many of these proprietors’ minds is when the importing of plywood exercise will begin.Home builders may now have to turn to either the more expensive sheet rock or imported plywood, raising construction costs.Guyana used to see over 60,000 sheets of the said item placed on the local market by the manufacturer.In addition to job losses at BCL, the closure will also have implications for employees in the harvesting operations, companies that supply peelers’ logs, materials and spare parts, as well as transportation, civil works,Jerseys NFL China, repairs, maintenance, medical, security and contract labourers. |
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