Alert in the national industry: Massive entry of irregular products through the border reported
The Dominican market faces a critical challenge due to the growing proliferation of foreign products entering the country without complying with the sanitary or labeling regulations required by law. According to reports from key figures in the business sector, this situation is having a direct negative impact on the competitiveness of the local industry.
Cirse Almánzar, a renowned businesswoman and former vice president of the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic, warned that a large quantity of goods from markets such as India, Turkey, and China are entering the national territory through the border with Haiti, evading quality controls and the corresponding sanitary registrations.
A millionaire evasion scheme
According to the estimates shared by the expert, the volume of this irregular flow is alarming, with an estimated monthly transit of some 930 barges distributing products to various businesses and supermarkets in the country. This scheme not only puts consumer health at risk due to the lack of sanitary guarantees, but also represents serious tax evasion.
- Estimated evasion: Approximately US$1 billion (equivalent to about RD$60 billion).
- Origin of products: Countries with massive overproduction seeking to place surpluses in less developed markets.
- Mode of operation: Transshipment of goods in border warehouses and irregular relabeling.
Almánzar explained that the instability in Haiti has been exploited to create an informal logistics network. Goods arrive in large cargo vehicles at border warehouses, where they are subsequently broken down into smaller vehicles to evade customs controls and reach final points of sale.
A culture and a modus vivendi were generated at border points, where warehouses have been developed, where semi-trucks transfer cargo to smaller trucks, and most of those goods have no control.
Cirse Almánzar, business representative.
This phenomenon, according to the businesswoman, not only erodes the base of national production by introducing products with unfair advantages, but also challenges the supervisory capacity of the authorities in the face of a distribution system that has become increasingly opaque in border areas.
