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A regulatory body would be among recommendations made by the Scrap Iron Dealers Association to Minister of Trade, Investment and Tourism Kama Maharaj on May 28.
This followed a meeting at Nicholas Towers, Port of Spain on May 27.
The association’s president Allan Ferguson assured, however, that changes to the scrap metal legislation were imminent.
The industry faced issues of private and public theft and was shut for about a year in 2022 because of this. It was reopened in 2023.
Ferguson spoke to the media after the almost 45-minute meeting.
He said, “The meeting was fruitful. It brought back life to the industry and made me happy. I could say we welcome meeting the minister.”
Ferguson said the industry was one which brought forex and economically empowered lower socio-economic groups in the country.
He added that the minister wanted to know why such an industry was “suffering.”
“One of the things he said was we have the stock to export. We are not importing any stock. We have the stock to sell out already. All the old iron is to go out.
“He is saying why something like this is not going on. We were doing so good between 2021-22 and it declined.”
Ferguson said Maharaj is willing to work with the industry to develop it. He could not say if there would be a removal of the licensing regime but said there'd definitely be some changes to the current legislation.
Ferguson and his executive would send their recommendations to Maharaj after a zoom meeting.
The association’s secretary Willetta Wilson and vice president Eross Seejattan were also present at the meeting.
Ferguson said the draconian laws under which industry practitioners were operating would no longer be there and it was a happy day for scrap-iron dealers all across the country.
Asked about errant people in the industry and laws to combat theft, Ferguson said working with the police, ministry of trade and others will provide answers as to how to combat this.
“These areas must be attacked within the law and it must not be the association to stop the theft. That is not our work.
“If a member steals, we suspend them. But when it comes to the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, that is why we are asking for the body to come in place to be able to deal with all these problems and recommend laws and good things for the industry to run.”
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