The Jamaican Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister, De Christopher Tufton, has called for a meeting of scrap metal dealers in Jamaica in an attempt to end the issues which have been plaguing the industry and causing it to contribute to over $1 billion worth of losses due to metal theft.

He claims the trade has a “destructive impact on businesses” and continues, stating “I will be meeting with the scrap metal dealers in order for them to come up with a formula to end the practice or I will shut the industry down until we can put a workable measure in place.”

Metal thefts have hit a number of major industries in the country, with the sugar industry amongst those taking the hardest knocks as scrap metal thieves strip properties of electrical transformers and power lines, metal electrical poles, pivot cables, irrigation pump columns, pumps and starters.

“This is not sustainable,” Tufton added. “This is now an issue of infrastructure for businesses being dismantled for scrap.”