DR remains ambitious about leather and footwear gr - footwearbiz: Lead

News

DR remains ambitious about leather and footwear growth

09/05/2016
The Dominican Repulic’s minister for industry and commerce, José del Castillo Saviñón, has said his government has ambitions to grow footwear production there from 15 million pairs per year in 2015 to 50 million by the end of 2020, which would have positive implications for the country’s tanning industry too.

Footwear’s growth in the Dominican Republic has had a major impact on wealth and on job creation, Mr del Castillo said, particularly in and around the country’s second city, Santiago. The shoe industry now employs 19,000 people across the country, with most production facilities in the Santiago region. The government is aiming to increase this workforce to 35,000 people by the end of 2017.

Mr del Castillo quoted these figures during an address at an event called Product Development Convention in Santiago at the start of May. He shared a platform with the chief executive of Rocky Brands, David Sharp. Rocky Brands operates seven manufacturing facilities in the Dominican Republic, exporting the shoes and boots it makes to the US. Thanks to the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement and the Caribbean country’s development of Free Zones for manufacturing, these exports can go into the US market duty free.

At the event, Mr Sharp said this arrangement is working well and he said the Dominican Republic’s stability and low rate of inflation make it a good place for companies like his to continue to invest there.


Related stories:

Rocky Brands offloads Creative Recreation 29/11/2017
Panama leads Central America in footwear imports 28/09/2016

footwearbiz.com cannot be held responsible for content if the language setting is changed from English.

The translations provided by Google Translate are automated and therefore might not be accurate and may contain incorrect, offensive or misleading language. We offer this facility as a guide only.