The Dominican Federation of Merchants (FDC) warned this Tuesday about a sustained increase in the prices of several basic basket productsconstruction supplies and a possible economic impact on companies derived from the proposal to modify the Solid Waste Law.
The president of the FDC, Iván García, indicated that the price of sugar, both cream and white or refined, will increase by 5% starting February 1, in accordance with resolution 01-2024 of the Dominican Sugar Institute (Inazucar). . Currently, the pound of sugar Refined is sold for 40 pesos and cream for 30. “With the increase, each pound will cost two additional pesos,” he said.
“We remember that the sugar is the only product food that still has price control in the country,” observed the business leader.
Furthermore, the coffee has also experienced an increase at the beginning of the year, although García did not specify the exact percentage. “It is worrying that both essential products have gone up,” he said during a press conference.
The executive referred to the riceexplaining that they remain attentive to the harvest of this 2025hoping that it will be greater than 16 million quintals to avoid having to import it, since the provision of a 99% tariff on US grain It would impact the sales price to the local consumer by 50%.
“We reiterate our support for national rice producers, that they are producing a variety of rice that consumers prefer over imported rice; Logically, it is necessary to increase production to 18 million quintals to ensure the country’s food security in this main product of the basic family basket,” he stated.
Continuing with the food from the family basket, he added that they hope that the soybean oil pricewhich rose 10% at the end of 2024, could be reduced by lowering the price of soybeans in the world market to 361.38 dollars per ton, almost reaching the levels of December 2019, when it was 334.95 per ton. In May 2022 it reached its highest price of $621.00 per ton, he exclaimed.
Construction materials
During his presentation, he explained that 2025 also brought with it an increase in 5% in the main construction materials: cement and rodwhose trend directly affects the spending of merchants and people looking to invest or build their home or business.
When detailing the information, he assured that the cement sleeve price gray went from 520 pesos to ranging between 545 and 550, which implies an increase of up to 30 pesos for each cover.
In the case of rod tyingsaid that before it was sold for 69,000 pesos and now it costs between 72,500 and 73,000, which represents an increase from 3,500 to 4,000 pesos. He added that the structural or corrugated rod costs 1,000 pesos more, reaching between 73,500 and 74,000 pesos.
These increases, according to the president of the FDC, make the construction costs and directly affect sales in the country’s hardware stores, which are retail businesses.
Waste Law
García also warned about the potential impact of the proposal to modify the Solid Waste Lawwhich could increase the costs of garbage collection services for companies, especially affecting small and medium-sized merchants.
The FDC urged the authorities to take measures to mitigate the effects of these increases and protect the economic stability of consumers and merchants in an environment of growing uncertainty.
He emphasized that the retail sector faces a high sensitivity to fluctuations national and international economic, for which he urged the authorities and legislators to carefully consider the proposals under discussion in Congress.
