In Santo Domingo, the Executive Director of Export and Investment Center of the Dominican Republic (ProDominicana), Biviana Riveiro Disla, conveyed that the current exports situation is unprecedented, having superior historical records, penetrating unexplored markets, and intensifying the added value of products on offer for export from the Dominican Republic.
Exports from the Dominican Republic in September 2024 touched a record high with an export total of USD$1,106.2 million. This is a significant yearly uptick of 15.5%, meaning an outright increase of USD$148.8 million compared to the same time last year.
Key contributors to this growth include raw gold, which had the greatest absolute surge of USD$72.3 million. This followed by cocoa beans and electrodiagnostic devices, with increases of USD$20.6 million and USD$8.8 million respectively.
The United States continues to be the primary destination for exports, accounting for USD$548.2 million in September 2024. This equates to 49.6% of total exports for the month. Other significant export markets include India, which saw exports worth USD$114.9 million.
“Exports made under the national scheme saw a 5.5% growth over the first nine months of 2024 and prominent in this category were items such as cocoa beans, cigars, and cane sugar. Moreover, sales contributors from free trade zones reported a year-on-year increase of 7.7%, mainly driven by exports of medical instruments, electrodiagnostic devices, and plastic goods among others,” added Riveiro.
From January to September 2024, export figures stood at US$9,706.7 million, equating to a 7.0% growth compared to the same period in 2023. This figure denotes a growth of 30.4% when compared to the corresponding period in 2019, before the pandemic.
The positive growth in export statistics comes from a joint effort between the public and private sectors in the execution of the National Export Promotion Plan 2020-2030. This approach has helped the country to achieve six months of consecutive record-breaking exports. ProDominicana continues to actively support exports via several means, thus strengthening the Dominican products’ standing in international markets.
In conclusion, ProDominicana underlined its ongoing effort to enhance its market intelligence services through ProIntelligence. The goal is not only to maximize new openings but also to mitigate risks in the existing international scene. This service includes continual monitoring to spot alerts and opportunities and can be accessed on the organization’s website.