Chinese Investors Eye Dominican Tobacco

Chinese investors are negotiating to purchase leaf tobacco from the Dominican Republic, a development that could significantly boost exports from the Dominican Republic, reports The Dominican Today.

The Dominican Republic is already the world’s leading exporter of cigars.

Local industry representatives indicated that the Chinese investors are interested in the Olor Dominicano variety, which the large international cigar companies operating in the country use to manufacture their best blends.

The Dominican Republic exports cigars to 142 countries, according to José Guillermo López, a board member of Asociación de Desarrollo de la Provincia Espaillat.

López said the country has sufficient lands to expand tobacco cultivation. “We have the land capacity to plant four or five times more than what is being planted, without counting the potential of the south.”

The south’s problem of water shortages, he added, has been solved by investments in irrigation canals.