SANTO DOMINGO.- Rafael Bueno, president of the Dominican Association of Hardware Importers (ADOIMFE), stated this weekend that sales in that sector have decreased by up to 35% monthly due to the growth of Chinese-owned businesses in the Dominican Republic.
He said that if unfair competition continues in that market, given the increase in facilities offering merchandise from the Asian market at much cheaper prices than the local market, the consequence will be the massive bankruptcy of Dominican-registered representatives.
“We are going bankrupt in the coming years because without a doubt, with the inequality we are dealing with and the constant and systematic losses we are experiencing from decreased sales, we are going to have a massive bankruptcy as a consequence,” Blanco declared, speaking to Nuria Investigación, a program that last Saturday highlighted the situation that national commerce is experiencing in the face of the aforementioned situation.
The president of ADOIMFE opined that hardware store entrepreneurs are motivated by foreign investment in the country, but under rules and regulations established in the Dominican Republic.
He said that the sector he represents directly impacts 50,000 direct jobs and indirectly impacts more than 150,000.
Blanco explained that a large majority of Chinese businesses employ Haitian and Chinese workers. “And because this is unregulated, they avoid paying into the Social Security Treasury (TSS), the Pension Fund Administrators (AFP), INFOTEP, and other regulations established by law.”.
“Certainly, violation reports are filed for various infractions, such as salary, violation of working hours, violation of the labor code; that is, we find different findings of violation,” stated Andrés Valentín Herrera, Director General of Labor at the Ministry of Labor, when Nuria Investigación consulted him about the hardware store owner's claim.
Nuria Investigación cited several examples of hardware items and their prices in both types of stores. She showed that a pair of pliers sold by Chinese vendors for RD$170 costs between RD$400 and RD$500 in local hardware stores; a Phillips screwdriver that costs RD$30 in a Chinese establishment ranges from RD$54 to RD$175 in local stores; and an 8-inch pair of short pliers costs RD$175 in Chinese stores and RD$467 in local stores.
“Our sales are decreasing by an average of 30 to 35% per month,” the hardware store owner stated.
Business closures
Last week, the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII) and the General Directorate of Customs (DGA) launched several operations, through which they closed 11 Chinese commercial establishments, for alleged tax non-compliance, in Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros.
The Chinese community immediately spoke out, urging its citizens to comply with the rules, but demanding respect from the authorities for the rights of business owners.
Furniture stores support closure operations
The National Association of Furniture, Mattress and Related Industries (Asonaimco) joined yesterday the entities that express support for the joint operations of the General Directorates of Internal Taxes (DGII) and Customs (DGA), in which they closed commercial establishments of owners of Asian origin in the National District and Santiago last week.
The president of the organization that represents the main furniture and mattress manufacturers, Pedro Torres, asked official bodies to continue these actions and to monitor the thousands of businesses that operate irregularly.
