It is a medium and long-term investment, but the payoff will be handsome for those willing to wait. Environmental Minister Frank Moya Pons said yesterday that the Dominican Republic can and should become a regional leader in production and export of wood. As one of the nation?s leading historians, Moya knows that the Dominican Republic was a leading exporter of lumber to Europe following the arrival of the Spanish colonists. But today the schemes seek to make the export of wood a sustainable and very attractive business.
As reported in El Caribe newspaper, Moya said that the Dominican Republic imports about US$200 million in wood a year that could be produced here. The first phase would be to supply the domestic market, and then export, he said.
Moya Pons spoke during a conference on the potential of Dominican forestry by the C?mara Forestal Dominicana, which groups companies seeking to promote the development of a forest industry in the country. He pointed out that the government sent a bill to Congress in June containing very attractive tax incentives for investing in wood production. He feels cattleranchers, farmers and rural communities could convert to wood farms and take advantage of the growing demand worldwide that is at 3.7 billion cubic meters per year at present.