The Dominican Republic is now the sixth largest exporter of clothing to the United States, according to US Trade Department statistics. This year’s sales were worth over US$1.4 billion, a slight increase on figures for 2002. Jose Manuel Torres, executive director of Free Trade Zone exporters’ association ADOZONA, said that although the growth had not been significant, at least the sector had maintained the previous year’s volumes. He warned that the removal of the quota systems may give the Asian garment-exporting countries “a larger slice of the pie”, which would entail a threat to Dominican suppliers. They would have to rely on more flexible marketing and concentrate on niche products that are not faced with such fierce competition from Asian producers, he said.