The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Dominican global shipments during 2020. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Dominican Republic.

1. Gems, precious metals: US$2.2 billion (22.4% of total exports)
2. Electrical machinery, equipment: $1.2 billion (11.8%)
3. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $1.1 billion (11%)
4. Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $937.1 million (9.5%)
5. Pharmaceuticals: $468.9 million (4.8%)
6. Iron, steel: $452 million (4.6%)
7. Plastics, plastic articles: $398.6 million (4%)
8. Fruits, nuts: $362 million (3.7%)
9. Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $323 million (3.3%)
10. Footwear: $213.6 million (2.2%)

Dominican Republic’s top 10 exports accounted for 77.2% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Plastics both as materials and including articles made from plastics represents the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 14.5% from 2019 to 2020.

In second place for improving export sales was optical, technical and medical apparatus via a 8.1% gain.

Dominican Republic’s shipments under the gems and precious metals category posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 2.3%.

The leading decliner among Dominican Republic’s top 10 export categories was knitted or crocheted clothing including accessories, thanks to a -31.4% drop year over year.

At the more detailed four-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level, Dominican Republic’s most valuable exported good in 2020 was gold (17.9% of its global total). In second place is electro-medical equipment including xrays (15.2%) trailed by cigars and cigarettes (8.1%), lower-voltage switches or fuses (8%), jewelry (3.7%), sutures and special pharmaceutical goods (also 3.7%), iron ferroalloys (3.4%), bananas and plantains (2.5%), knitted or crocheted t-shirts and vests (2.4%) and phone system devices including smartphones (1.9%).

The following types of Dominican product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.

In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.

1. Gems, precious metals: US$1.7 billion (Up by 10.5% since 2019)
2. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $778 million (Up by 28.4%)
3. Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $503.5 million (Down by -3.8%)
4. Fruits, nuts: $278.2 million (Down by -3.9%)
5. Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $249.7 million (Down by -32.3%)
6. Cocoa: $166.9 million (Up by 1.6%)
7. Footwear: $104.7 million (Down by -11.4%)
8. Sugar, sugar confectionery: $84.9 million (Up by 85.6%)
9. Ores, slag, ash: $20.2 million (Down by -48.6%)
10. Woodpulp: $5.3 million (Up by 528.6%)

The Dominican Republic has notably positive net exports in the international trade of gold. In turn, these cashflows indicate Dominican Republic’s strong competitive advantages under the gems and precious metals product category.

The Dominican Republic racked up an overall -$8.7 billion trade deficit for 2020, down by -28.3% from the -$12.1 billion in red ink during the prior year.

Below are exports from the Dominican Republic that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Dominican Republic’s goods trail Dominican importer spending on foreign products.

1. Mineral fuels including oil: US-$2.2 billion (Down by -43.1% since 2019)
2. Machinery including computers: -$1.6 billion (Down by -7.1%)
3. Vehicles: -$1.3 billion (Down by -23.7%)
4. Plastics, plastic articles: -$1 billion (Down by -12.6%)
5. Paper, paper items: -$422.9 million (Down by -15.1%)
6. Cereals: -$420 million (Down by -5.7%)
7. Articles of iron or steel: -$362.2 million (Down by -18.7%)
8. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$324.3 million (Down by -50.9%)
9. Dairy, eggs, honey: -$270.1 million (Up by 15.8%)
10. Pharmaceuticals: -$230.2 million (Up by 8.6%)

Dominican Republic has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the mineral fuels including oil category. Red ink expanded most intensely for processed petroleum oils, petroleum gases and crude petroleum oil.

Dominican Export Companies

Not one Dominican corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.

Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from the Dominican Republic. Selected examples are shown below.

• Barceló Export Import (alcoholic beverages)
• Brugal & Cía. (alcoholic beverages)
• Cervecería Nacional Dominicana (brewery)
• Cervecería Vegana (brewery)
• Grupo Corripio (conglomerate)
• Grupo León Jimenes (brewery)
• Industrias Nacionales (construction materials)
• J. Armando Bermúdez & Co. (alcoholic beverages)
• MATASA (cigars)
• Servicios Aéreos Profesionales (airliner)