The price of building supplies and hardware items are expected to soar if Florida suppliers increase the cost of materials, some local retailers told The Bahama Journal Monday.
Gary Burrows, assistant manager at Tops Lumber and Building Supplies, said there is a temporary shortage of building and hardware material in the country.
He said some supplies that were sold-out before the arrival of Hurricane Frances have not yet been replaced in some instances.
ﾓPresently, we are waiting to get stock in,ﾒ Mr. Burrows said. ﾓWe may by this weekend have some shingles and so forth in stock. We wonﾴt be able to determine if prices will increase until we get our inventory.ﾒ
His comments came a day after Prime Minister Perry Christie said demand being created for building supplies after three hurricanes passed through the region over the last month, is already resulting in price increases for some supplies.
Mr. Christie said this will ﾓcomplicateﾒ the governmentﾴs efforts to assist residents in re-construction.
He noted that this demand is being fueled by the need for building supplies in The Bahamas, Florida, Jamaica, Grenada, the Cayman Islands and probably Cuba as a result of hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan.
But the reported increase is apparently not evident everywhere.
Keith Bethel, president of K&B Steel Construction, told The Journal Monday, ﾓI shop here at Tops regularly, sometimes two times per week and I have noticed no increase.ﾒ
A spokesperson at Premier Importers said even before Frances hit the Bahamas, supplies of building material such as plywood and shingles have been tight. ﾠ
She indicated that the price of these materials and other supplies used in repairing homes will likely increase sooner than other supplies.
ﾓWhenever there is a demand for certain materials, we will see an increase in prices,ﾒ said the spokesperson, who asked that her name not be used.
Saying that the company has sold more supplies than anticipated, pending and during Frances, she added that shipments of some of these supplies which were scheduled to arrive from Florida during the weekend of September 4, did not arrive until a week later.
A. J. Morris, a shareholder of Team Construction Company, said it is obvious from Florida news reports that because of the three hurricanes, there is bound to be an impact on the price of plywood and other building materials.
The prime minister has blamed what he termed rising prices on delayed shipments out of the Port of Miami.
Royanne Forbes, The Bahama Journal
