Diamond Cement has revealed that fifty percent of its staff will be laid off in order to keep the operations of the company running.

The General Manager for Diamond Cement Tati Ramaro who revealed this to Accra-based Citi FM said they have to take this step because they are currently utilising only 43% of their production capacity.

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“Just last month, I was compelled to sack 10 people from the marketing department in Tema because I couldn’t sustain the company’s operations. Since I am running at a loss, I cannot continue to keep the marketing staff in the company. Whatever decision that we decided to take has been and that is exactly what we will be doing,” Ramarao said.

He further stated that “actually we are so sorry with the decision to sack people home but we have no other option.”

Ramarao blamed the Ministry of Trade for taking decisions that favoured competition.

“We are suffering a lot even though we have written several letters to the Ministry of Trade. There have been promises but we have seen nothing from the state. There is neither implementation nor action at all; the situation is the same and the competition keeps getting worse,” he lamented.

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Diamond Cement in recent times has been facing challenges especially in dealing with competition in the local market.

On a number of occasions the youth of Aflao in the Volta region where the company has a production unit had demonstrated and called on government to regulate the inflow of already produced cements from other countries.

But the Trade Ministry has often defended its decision citing the insufficient supply to meet demand.