Dominican artisanal sector makes US$350M yearly: Forbes

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Republic boastshome-brewed beers, pizzas cooked with firewood, ecological furniture, artificialpreservatives free sausages, beauty products without chemicals, and handmadegarments with unique finishes, which are increasingly becoming consumers favorites,Forbes Magazine reports.

Lt said Dominican Republic’s artisanal sectoraccounts for income of US$350 million annually, citing figures from the Industryand Commerce Ministry, "which represents 0.5% of the gross domestic product(PIB).

The financial magazine stresses that recent trendtoward hand-crafted articles based on traditional techniques and methods thatmaintain products as offered by nature, both in the fields of gastronomy and beveragesas in the world of decoration, textiles and costume jewelry.

"While it is true that the phenomenon ofthe Industrial Revolution displaced artisanal production, the emergence of"handmade" labels evident that this social, technological and economictransformation process didn’t erase the existence of people dedicated to independentand small scale production," Forbes reports.