The powerful lobby group comprised of the Central Romana and Casa Vicini sugar producing companies has requested that President Leonel Fernandez ask the United States to revise the sugar-related provisions included in the free trade agreement that was signed with the United States, as reported in Hoy newspaper. Because the DR’s agreement has been docked to the Central American Free Trade Agreement, however, making such changes is not so easy. Osmar Benitez, the chief agricultural representative for the Dominican government at the negotiations, has called the discussions of the agricultural aspects the most transparent, clean and honest ever conducted by the sector.
Eduardo Martinez Lima discarded the notion of the country seeking arbitration through the World Trade Organization in view of the fact that the FTA is not yet in effect. This proposal has the support of President Fernandez. Central Romana executives Martinez Lima and Ramon (Papo) Menendez and Casa Vicini representatives Felipe Vicini and Campos de Moya met with the President, who was accompanied by Secretary of the Presidency Danilo Medina. Martinez Lima says the objective of the Presidential encounter was to find a Solomonic solution to the impasse.
The sugar producers want the DR to ask that the US either exclude sweeteners from the treaty or increase the sugar import quotas for the Dominican Republic, thus compensating them for the expected losses the companies will suffer when local manufacturers opt for the cheaper imported corn syrup. They said that during the negotiations in the Washington DC, they were only able to secure an increase in the quota of 10,000 tons. While Diario Libre explains that a potential solution could be an increased preferential US sugar quota, Hoy newspaper says that the DR is not in any condition to benefit from the increase in the quota.
While initially the sugar producers had indicated that 200,000 local jobs were at stake, Hoy newspaper reports that they have changed their estimates, now saying that some 8,600 small sugar cane producers that supply sugar cane to Central Romana could be affected, as well as another 400 from Casa Vicini and 2,000-3,000 other employees left jobless.
The free zone manufacturing industry has said that if the US suspends the FTA on the grounds that the corn syrup surcharge included in the tax reform last week violates the text of the accord, some 250,000 jobs will be at risk. President Fernandez is scheduled to meet today with the representatives of the free zone industry in Santiago, as reported in Diario Libre.