Some 35 small and medium-sized tobacco factories have closed down unable to compete with the larger cigar-exporting companies. Small producers are affected by higher production costs, and the scarcity of skilled labor. Alberto García, president of the Federación de Productores de Tabaco del Cibao, said that the smaller companies have had trouble purchasing wrappers from Connecticut. García has also complained that the larger exporters have dumped 10 million cigar units on the U.S. market at low prices. The business failures affect central Cibao towns and cities of Tamboril, Villa González, Navarrete, Santiago and Villa Vasquez. 80% of the workers that have been fired are women. El Siglo newspaper estimates that 200,000 Dominicans are employed by the tobacco industry in the Cibao area. In 1997, some 200 million cigars were produced for the North American and European markets. Production this year is expected to exceed 220 million units. Most of the factories that went bankrupt employed in the roundabouts of 250 workers and produced about 40 to 50,000 cigars per day. The factories were installed responding to the strong demand for Dominican cigars in Europe and North America. From about 400 tobacco stores that existed in the United States in 1994, the market grew to over 5,000 tobacco stores by 1997. El Siglo reported that the Dominican Republic placed some US$289 million in cigar sales in 1997, according to U.S. Department of Commerce statistics. Dominican cigar exports grew 113.46% in 1997 compared to the previous year. On the other hand, Dominican Ministry of Agriculture statistics say the country exported cigars and cigarettes for US$211.5 million in 1997. This was the result of an export volume of 285.5 million units and 37.2 million kilos. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Dominican exports to the United States in 1995 were US$69 million, which by 1996 had increased to US$135 million. Tobacco is the fifth largest Dominican export product. The leading Dominican exports are textiles, US$1,105 million; optical and medical instruments, US$308 million; electrical products US$316 million; stockings, US$292 million.
