Venezuela: Caribbean Cement Company, a subsidiary of the TCL Group, has entered into an agreement to supply 100,000t of clinker to Venezuela from December 2013 to April 2014. This arrangement was facilitated under the compensation mechanism of the Petrocaribe Agreement where the government of Jamaica could repay the loan to Venezuela with goods and services in lieu of cash.
This contract is the outcome of more than three years of negotiations between Caribbean Cement, the government of Jamaica and the government of Venezuela. What started as an initiative to export cement ended instead in an agreement to supply clinker.
Caribbean Cement will export 20,000t/month of clinker to Pertigalete, Venezuela. The company will continue negotiations to continue to supply clinker after April 2014. The company said in a statement "Caribbean Cement is pleased to be a trailblazer in setting a precedent for other goods and services to be negotiated under the compensation mechanism of the Petrocaribe."