The Bush Administration is working with federal agencies and the construction industry to address cement shortages that have prevailed in certain regions throughout 2004, according to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. During the Associated General Contractors' mid-year meeting in Phoenix earlier this month, he noted: “These shortages are hitting your industry hard, and we are working to find a solution acceptable to all parties. As you know, we are operating under an anti-dumping order on imports of gray portland cement from Mexico that was put in place more than a decade ago. That order, however, affects only Mexican cement that is sold in the United States at unfairly low prices, and does not establish any limits on the amount of Mexican cement that can be brought into our country.”

Addressing a matter AGC CEO Steve Sandherr raised in a June 2004 request for the Department of Commerce to temporarily lift the anti-dumping duties, Sec. Evans said, “The Administration does not have the authority to unilaterally suspend the collection of dumping duties, [and] has continued informal talks with the Mexican government and with representatives from the U.S. and Mexican cement industries. We will work to identify an alternative solution to continued operation of the anti-dumping order.”