Dominican exports for the most part continued, despite the National State of Emergency the country has undergone since March. Exports were down, but imports were down three-fold.
The Customs Agency reports that imports for January to July 2020 were US$9.56 billion, or 20.17% less than for the same period in 2019. Excluding petroleum imports, the decline was 13.73%. Customs said that of the total imports, 21.33% were duty-free imports for free zone manufacturing. Of the total, 47.75% were consumer goods, 34.19% raw materials and 18.06% capital goods.
Imports were from the United States (34.27%) and the People’s Republic of China (18.03%). There were also large amounts of imports from Mexico (4.86%), Spain (4.28%), Brazil (2.86), Colombia (2.51%), Germany (2.32%), Japan (2.27%), Netherlands (2.06%), Trinidad & Tobago (1.92%).
Exports were down less. The Customs Agency said that total exports for January-July 2020 were US$5.37 billion, that is 6.72% less than in 2019. Of the total, 58.32% were exported by duty-free export manufacturing companies. Of the total exported, 41.78% was raw material, 35.46% consumer goods, 22.76% capital goods.
The main Dominican exports were in the categories of:
Pearls, stones and precious metals 43.99%
Iron and steelwork 11.75%
Sugar and sweets 6.03%
Plastic and manufactured plastic goods 5.53%
Fruits and comestibles 5.37%
Cacao and byproducts 3.31%
Salt, Sulphur, land and stones 1.80%
Food preparations 1.67%
The main markets for Dominican exports were Switzerland (24.70%), United States (16.32%), Canada (12.84%), Haiti (11.48%), Puerto Rico (5.27%), India (4.60%), Netherlands (3.85%), China (3.68%, South Korea (2.46), Jamaica (1.67%). Chinese exports declined from US$153.87 million in 2019 to US$75.17 million for the same Jan-July period in 2020.
Read more in Spanish:
12 August 2020