Cuban company aims to replace imports

CIEGO DE AVIA, Cuba, Dec 8 (ACN) The Ciego de Avila Construction Materials Company(central Cuba) included chalk for school blackboards in its product portfolio, with the aim of contributing to the substitution of imports of this necessary resource for teaching classes.

After a research and testing process, which took more than two years, for the design of the mixture, this learning material, which is also used in industries to mark the outline of the chalk for painting work, is now available.

Heisy Linares Rodriguez, director of Operation and Commercial Management in the entity, told Cuban News Agency that since the gypsum mines are located in Punta Alegre, in the municipality of Chambas, the cost of each one of these elements, which are handmade, is only 58 cents in local currency.

The Punta Alegre Gypsum Base Business Unit (UEB) has the molds, made of high-density polyethylene, thanks to the movement of innovators and rationalizers of that productive enclave, Linares Rodriguez added.

About 1,000 chalks per day, seven centimeters long and one centimeter in diameter, standard size, can be obtained, which is a guarantee for the educational sector in Cuba, Linares Rodriguez stressed.

In this regard, Eduardo Ramirez Ponce, buyer of one of the companies in the territory, said that the staff tested imported chalks, those manufactured by a local craftsman and Construction Materials.

The evaluations favored the latter, since they are more flexible, break less and do not scratch the blackboard, he concluded.

Specialists estimate that the province's gypsum reserves are the largest in Latin America and among the top five in the world, capable of lasting 500 years at current production rates.