Journalist John Collins reports that Puerto Rico?s trade with the Dominican Republic was down US$71.6 million. He says the decline of exports from Puerto to the Dominican Republic reflects the slow recovery from 9/11 and the continued US recession. The DR and Puerto Rico are the two biggest trading partners in the Caribbean, while the US is the principal market for DR exports.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2002, ending June 30, 2002, Puerto Rico?s bilateral trade with the Dominican Republic (DR) amounted to US$1.34 billion, according to the latest statistics of the Puerto Rico Planning Board released by Promoexport.
Collins reports that the exports from Puerto Rico to the DR in FY02 were US$633.5 million, compared with US$679.5 million in FY01, reflecting a decline of US$46 million.
Puerto Rican imports from the DR in FY02 weighed in at US$706.5 million, compared to US$732.1 million in FY01, representing a US$25.6 million decline.
Despite the downward shift, Collins says that the two-way trade between the Caribbean neighbors is still impressive. The most popular item for export from Puerto Rico to the DR was men?s and boys? underwear and pajamas accounting for US$103.4 million in trade and indicating a US$15-million increase over the total for the same category in FY01 (US$88.4 million). Other main trade categories were surgical and medical instruments; brassieres, girdles and allied garments; non current-carrying wiring devices; relays and industrial controls; narrow fabrics; telephone apparatus; flavoring extracts and syrups; electrical equipment for engines; and plastics.
Collins observes the conspicuous absence of agricultural exports from the DR to Puerto Rico in the top ten categories. He also notes the continued downward shift of production in apparel and electrical assembly from Puerto Rico to the DR, as well as the fact that footwear and tobacco have disappeared from the screen and have migrated to other areas of even lower wages and production costs.
The traditional concept of shared production (or twin plants) between Puerto Rico and the DR is gradually being modified, writes Collins. ?Before, many items were partially begun in Puerto Rico and a labor-intensive phase followed in the DR before being returned to Puerto Rico. As the DR develops a more sophisticated manufacturing sector, increasingly, products are now being completed in the DR and shipped directly to Florida for distribution in the US, thus reducing transportation costs in the process.?