Santo Domingo. - Cement exports jumped 34.2% higher than the same year ago period, for which the country’s main cement-makers continue to wager on rising exports to minimize as much as possible the impact of dwindling sales locally.

Cement makers grouped in Adocem the posted sales abroad of 703,000 metric tons from January to June, compared with last year’s 524,000, a jump attributed to a higher production capacity and the constant search for new markets.

Even when local demand and total exports are added, more than 35% of the industry’s installed capacity, of more than 6 million tons, remains idle.

Dominican Republic’s cement industry exports around 35% of its production annually, or around US$120.0 million in foreign currency entering the country, whose shipments head mostly Jamaica, Bermuda, ABC, Guyana, Virgin Islands etc., and to its main market in the Caribbean, Haiti.