The Legislative Assembly approved in second debate a bill that aims to tax in the country the sale and self-consumption of imported or locally produced cement.
The initiative, which was approved in the first debate in the Assembly in mid-February and is still pending approval by the Executive Branch, establishes that the tax will be on imported cement produced nationally, in bags or in bulk, for sale or self-consumption, of any kind, whose destination is the consumption and marketing of the product nationally.
Businessmen in the sector assert that the country reports one of the lowest levels of cement consumption in the Latin American region.
The current level of cement production in Guatemala reflects the low levels of public investment in recent years in the country. Lack of investment by the State in roads and other public infrastructure works is compounded by instability generated by foreign investment in the legal conflicts that have arisen in recent years, such as closure of mining projects and political and economic problems related to corruption."..."Conflict is an additional factor that slows development and investment, and therefore the consumption of cement," said Oscar Sequeira, coordinator of the Statistics Commission of the Guatemalan Chamber of Construction. "
In 2016 intraregional trade in hydraulic cement totaled $59 million, 18% less than in 2015, and the main exporter is still Costa Rica.
Figures from the information system on the the Hydraulic Cement Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData : [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with the graph"]
The company Cemento Regional has started operating a plant in Escuintla, Guatemala which has capacity to produce 8,000 bags per day.
The company Cemento Regional has invested $12.2 million in the construction and commissioning of the plant, which will produce up to 8,000 bags per day and will supply the product to its three stores in the department of Guatemala.
The construction union of Guatemala states that construction costs have increased by about 6% since the entry into force in January of a tax on the distribution of cement.
Since the start of the charging of a $0.66 tax per bag of cement distributed, representatives from cement companies have reported a drop in sales.
Pelayo Llarena, president of the Chamber of Construction, told Elperiodico.com.gt that "...