Barbados: Rock Hard Cement, a cement distributor, and local producer Arawak Cement have been arguing publicly over the quality of their respective products. Arawak Cement took out a paid advertisement advised customers in Barbados, Guyana and the Eastern Caribbean that an unnamed rival company’s product was not ‘not of a higher quality, or strength and is not a superior product’ than its own products, according to the Barbados Today newspaper. The cement producer said it has also made a complaint with the Fair Trading Commission regarding alleged misleading claims that Rock Hard Cement has made about its products.
In response Mark Maloney, chief executive of Rock Hard Cement, has accused Arawak Cement of attempting to stop the newcomer entering the local market since November 2015. Since the entry of Rock Hard Cement into the market the price of cement has dropped by 30%. Arawak Cement has attributed this to a restructuring programme and improved plant efficient. Maloney has also accused his rival of trying to register the Rock Hard name outside of Barbados to deter future expansion.