The Polish Cement Association (SPC) has called on the government to let cement production in the country continue in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SPC said in a letter to Business and Entrepreneurship Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz that construction and the cement industry are key sectors of the Polish economy, providing nearly two million jobs.
It added that the entire construction sector in Poland – cement producers, concrete producers and building contractors – have implemented recommendations from bodies including the World Health Organisation on employee protection, and are able to manufacture safely and maintain production continuity in this core industry.
The SPC said that maintaining jobs and continuity of production is key in the construction industry and cement sector, and where a breakdown in production directly affect many other sectors.
It added that continued production is also extremely important for maintaining the financial liquidity of many businesses in the construction industry that do not have enough reserves to survive without regular revenues.
“Loss of liquidity by some entities would cause undoubtedly a domino effect in a multi-level dependency system in our industry, the SPC said. “This would result in a large scale of bankruptcies and dismissals of employees.”
It added that bankruptcies among contractors would have a domino effect in causing business collapses for sub-contractors, raw materials suppliers, and construction service providers.
Poland introduced strict lockdown measures on March 13 to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
