The Dominican Republic belongs to the club of the 10 largest exporters of goods in Latin America and the Caribbean, occupying tenth place and has the potential to continue climbing the scale, first displacing Guatemala from position 9 and competing in the medium term with Ecuador and Costa Rica, for seventh and eighth place.
Exports of goods from the Dominican Republic reached US$11,932 million in 2023, according to the National Statistics Office (ONE), while Guatemala’s goods exports totaled US$14,194 million in 2023according to the Annual Foreign Trade Report prepared by the Ministry of Economy, while that of Costa Rica amounted to US$19,211 millionaccording to the Foreign Trade Statistics and those of Ecuador, reached the US$31,126 millionaccording to the Central Bank of Ecuador.
The six main exporters in the region are Mexico, with US$593,011 million; Brazil, US$339,000 million; Chile, US$94,937 million; Argentina, US$66,788 million; Peru, US$64,355 million and Colombia, US$49,542 million.
To unseat Guatemala from ninth position, the Dominican Republic benefits from the fact that its export offer is more diversified.
The main Dominican export products were medical, surgical, dental or veterinary instruments, for US$1,516 million, followed by gold, with a 9.8% share of the total (in mining, the DR has great potential, which could even include the exploitation of rare earths), and cigarettes (cigars), with 8.7% participation, while, in the case of Guatemala, the main export products were clothing items, representing around US$1.5 billion.
The competition for export leadership with Costa Rica will be very strong, because like the Dominican Republic, the Central American country stands out as an exporting nation of medical-surgical instruments.
Although the gap between the value of Dominican and Ecuadorian exports is greater (US$31,126 million versus US$11,932 million), it could be closed because the products on which the Dominican Republic is betting have the potential for greater growth and resilience.
It would help the country to gain higher positions in the region as an exporter of goods if each sale made by a Dominican company leaves a lesson to the buyer who, at the given quality, could not find the product at a better price.
