Export or Die!

The recalcitrant domestic bunch needs to get with it and stop thinking it can use tricks and distortions to prevent competition. Get your act together and improve your quality and competitiveness before you lose even more market share. Remember, in a few more years more goods will come under stronger competitive pressure due to DR-CAFTA.

"the sacks, used to pack foods and agro-industrial and industrial products,"
My question is, are these foods, agro-industrial and industrial products for export?

Written by: Atabey, 31 Jan 2012 12:18 PM

From: United States

Export or Die!

The recalcitrant domestic bunch needs to get with it and stop thinking it can use tricks and distortions to prevent competition. Get your act together and improve your quality and competitiveness before you lose even more market share. Remember, in a few more years more goods will come under stronger competitive pressure due to DR-CAFTA.

now, this is a laugh. i remember stating, no so long ago, that one of the main objections from the Caricom countries to incorporating the DR as a full member in the organization, rather than an observer, was the tendency of the DR to try to play the game on a field that was not level. Atabey sounded off, declaring my statement to be nonsense. i remember telling him , at the time, that i knew the former head of Caricom, personally, and could request examples from him, via email. Atabey made light of the matter, in his usual infantile attempts to marginalize

information with which he disagrees. it is ,therefore, surprising to see this posting from him, which, in essence, and substance, is saying the exact same thing that i did. poor, confused, soul.

Dready,

The only soul in need of correction lies within your mirror image. :)

Remember that I've always been a great supporter of export led growth for the DR!

Or do you so soon forget the beat downs I've given you on the subject?


DR needs to export and improve its competitive position vis-a-vis its chief competitors from Central America. DR either accepts the challenges of modernity or see its domestic market share dwindle due to superior competitors. That simple.

But remember that the DR is not the only nation in the region opposed to stronger foreign competitive pressures! Many of the smaller islands in the Caribbean have sought to exclude DR from their markets. The EU is currently wringing their ears and forcing these recalcitrant smaller nations to open their domestic markets.

Or do you so soon forget the beat downs I've given you on the subject?

beat downs, he says. the true vernacular of a street thug, not one who thinks that he is an academic. while we are on the subject of your recent flavor of the month, FDI, please give me your take on the influx of FDI into the DR, and its efficacy, with the following issues as the focus of inquiry

1...give me a breakout of FDI, by economic sector

2...give me the opportunity costs associated with attracting said FDI to these shores

3..tell me if the FDI is market seeking, or resource seeking..

4...give me a relative breakout of debt equity swaps as a portion of FDI

5...Give me some information regarding the Crowd In effects , vis a vis foreign firms, and tyhe Crowd Out of local manufacturers

6..tell me what backward, and forward linkages have been developed, to enhance the performance of the local economy


7...tell me about the efficacy of technology transfer occasioned by the aforementioned F

a good place to start would be to explain the horizontal, and vertical linkages, and the ability of the local population to incorporate disembodied, and embodied technologies

7 tell me about the effects of the creation of a dual economy, where relatively advanced MNEs, with superior best practices methodologies, seek to operate within an economy characterized by information asymmetry

8 ..give us your take on the speed at which you think diminishing returns to capital will set in, given the relative underdevelopment of the human capital sector

9...give us an idea of the consequences on the performance of the agricultural sector, occasioned by urban drift, due to the locational tendencies of the MNEs

give your take on the absorptive capacity of best practices methodologies, given the discrepancies in technological state between the host country, and the lender countries. you can simplify this part, by ventilation the following subsectors

a..the technology gap

b...the human capital presence

c...the stste of development of the financial institutions

d..the state of development of governmental institutions

e information asymmetryf..the resource costs of the transfers

f..the level of formal l technological education, facilitating the technological transfers

so, Atabey, this is your opportunity to give me another of your beat downs. i am sure that this should all be a breeze for an erudite guy like yourself, who is quick to refer to the limitations of others. a limitless intellect like yours should have no difficulty coping with these questions. the ony questio remains is "how soon will you respond"?

HA!

The DR never had a chance in this case. Customs is always trying to cheat the consumer.

Our custom department, which is supposedly one of the most transparent and best ran depts in DR is far from being transparent at all. They simply pull a number out of their A$$ to tax on imported goods.

Two years ago I gave my mom an HDTV for xmas. The first time she went to customs to pick up the item, she had forgotten the receipt, so they were charging her a ridicoulous $525 US tax fee based on the product type, valued off head at $1500 US, roughly 35%... So she decided to come back and bring the receipt, the TV cost me $500 US., but they still charged her (same guy) $250 US, which is 50%... so how did they go from the already ridicoulous 35% to the ludicrous 50%? They just wrote an amount on a receipt, no itemize entry or explanation as to why.... The guy probably pocketed the other 15%.

Then Dominicans wonder why stuff is soooooo expensive in the DR.

scumbags and thiefs!!!

lovingit, I notice electronics in retails stores are very expensive here. Is this because of high tariffs, and if so, why when there is no local electronics industry to protect?
I also notice instead of 12, 6 or 3 months warranty, they only off 24 hours. Why?

Roy, my guess is that the high tariffs have a lot to do with it and retailers have to adjust accordingly to be able to make money. Retailers may over inflate their prices too, though, it would be to their best interest to have lower prices in order to increase sales in volume, especially if they already have a good profit marging to work with

Take this exaxmple for instance:

I recently bought this item for $45 US in IKEA Philadelphia:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10191476/
@$39 exchange ratio, the RD$ translates to $1,755

The same product in DR costs RD$ 3,995 which translates to $US 102.44:
http://www.ikea.com.do/productos_IKEA/detalle.php?id=10191476

The product is made in China, so it is an import for both, the US and DR, yet, the product in the DR is 127% more expensive than in US retail price!

I understand adding an additional RD$500 to cover some additional transit costs here and there, but pricing it at more than twice the price? That is absurd.

"Written by: RoyStone, 31 Jan 2012 3:19 PM
From: Australia
lovingit, I notice electronics in retails stores are very expensive here. Is this because of high tariffs, and if so, why when there is no local electronics industry to protect?
I also notice instead of 12, 6 or 3 months warranty, they only off 24 hours. Why?"


Roy,

Have you visited PRICESMART?

I have found some of their offerings in the electronics area reasonable by comparison to the national robber barons!

@Roy,

Well, when it comes to the warranty I have had no issues.. I bought a split air conditioner in Corripio so that when I visit the DR, my room is nice and cool... not sure what happened, but on a subsequent trip (8 month later), it was not working right (think something with the freon because of lack of usage) but when I had bought it, it did include 12 months warranty, I went to Corripio with my receipt, reported the problem, and they sent someone to fix it without a prob. I have my mom crank it on for me at least once a month (just to be safe) and has worked well for 2+ years now.

Warranty, as far as I know, is the only pro of buying in DR rather than buying overseas, but I guess based on what you said, it depends with what retailer you deal with. I would have been SOL if I had bought it in the US unless the manufacturer has some sort of international warranty or local distributor that takes care of issues (which some, but few do)

That's a massive price differential, lovingit.
Maybe it something to do with market positioning. In our village, Ikea is considered luxury for the wealthy only, so they're not going to buy it no matter what price. We can have custom-made solid mahogany cupboards for the price of veneered composite from Ikea, which I think would not be too good in humid tropics.

In Melbourne Ikea is considered very cheep. Custom-made solid mahogany is very expensive.

I suspect they will not move much volume here, but may make exceptional margin on what they do sell.

Thanks, josean,
I don't think we have PRICESMART here in San Cristobal so I'll have a look next time I'm in the capital. Prices for most things tend to be higher here than in Santo Domingo.

Roy,

I couldn't agree with you more on IKEA.

When this store came to DR the orgasmic pleasure of some of the DT posters (the usual suspects) was at the equivalent level of the Sputnik launch in ‘57 for the Soviets or the lunar landing for the US in ’69.

Look up the IKEA threads here on DT for a great laugh. As usual most of us who are not PURPLE Capping Seals were tarred and feathered.

Dang,Papa Dread you came out swinging !!!!

Well how about importing of your personal vehicals they a racking you over the coals and if some Gov offical likes your new car you just lost it.

thanks, Yuhacu. does not take much of a punch to subdue the likes of Atabey.

Dready, that minus was from me.
Please play the ball and not the man.

agreed, Roy. however, the gate swings both ways. or, in the very least, it ought to

Cabron

Where's your Mea maxima culpa for slandering me on DT?

Pendejo viejo sucio!

Written by: Atabey, 2 Feb 2012 10:25 AM
From: United States
Cabron

Where's your Mea maxima culpa for slandering me on DT?

Pendejo viejo sucio!

slander? you are the only one who is doing discredit to yourself here, by showing what a sreet lowlife you are. people with good upbringing do not refer to others in the terms you use. that is for those who come from the background you apparently come from. you seemingly think that you come off as some masculine tough, but you are just looking pathetic, and simplistic. as i told you before, my last word is that i will not apologize, nor will i give up my sources. you can continue to behave like a street hoodlum, since it is apparent that you were not taught better in your formative years. so, hijack every thread, and call all the schoolyard names you can think of. that will just reinforce my assertion that you are a congenital loser.

Is just price gouging by the greedy dominican goverment , there not gonna put up with this criminal behavior , this is why the dominican republic cannot get full membership to caricom.