Dominican Republic Turns Sugarcane Bagasse Into Global Furfural Export Lead

Bagasse supports a specialized chemical industry

The Dominican Republic led recorded global exports of furfural in 2023, selling 26,685.9 tonnes for $22.83 million, according to Revista Mercado and Acento. The position gives the Caribbean country a prominent role in a specialized chemical market, even though China remains the world’s largest producer because of the number of plants operating there. In 2024, the Dominican Republic remained among the leading exporters amid close competition with South Africa.

Central Romana Corporation is the company behind the Dominican operation. It produces furfural from sugarcane bagasse, the fibrous material left after juice is extracted for sugar production. The process converts a byproduct of the country’s long-established sugar industry into an industrial feedstock for international customers.

Furfural, also called 2-furaldehyde, is an organic compound obtained from plant materials rich in pentosans. Potential raw materials include corncobs, wood, husks and other agricultural residues. The Dominican industry relies principally on sugarcane bagasse, linking chemical output directly to the availability of material from cane processing.

Output and capacity leave room above current production

Central Romana produced 25,845 metric tonnes of furfural during the 2024-2025 harvest, according to the final report of the Dominican Sugar Institute, known as INAZUCAR. Its installed annual capacity is as much as 90 million pounds, or approximately 40,800 tonnes. Reported harvest-period output was therefore below the plant’s stated maximum capacity.

The chemical has several industrial applications. It is used as a selective solvent in refining lubricating oils and other petroleum derivatives, and as a feedstock for chemicals used in resins, polymers, adhesives and heat-resistant materials. One of its principal derivatives is furfuryl alcohol, which is used in foundry resins as well as refractory and anticorrosive applications.

This end-use profile ties demand to processors and manufacturers rather than to the consumer market. It also means that the value chain does not end when furfural leaves the Dominican Republic: further conversion into derivatives takes place closer to European industrial customers.

Belgium dominates the export route

Belgium received 24,685.8 tonnes of Dominican furfural in 2023, worth $21.07 million. The Netherlands took the remaining 2,000 tonnes, valued at $1.76 million. Practically all recorded Dominican exports that year therefore went to the two European markets connected to Central Romana’s wider corporate structure.

Central Romana acquired facilities in Belgium in 1995 that now operate as TransFurans Chemicals, or TFC. The Belgian business processes Dominican furfural mainly into furfuryl alcohol and other derivatives. Revista Mercado reports that TFC describes itself as Europe’s largest manufacturer of furfuryl alcohol and derivatives, with combined capacity of 50,000 metric tonnes. International Furan Chemicals, based in the Netherlands, participates in international marketing, including in Europe and North America.

The European Commission has identified Central Romana, TFC and International Furan Chemicals as parts of the same economic structure, Revista Mercado reported. That structure connects sugarcane processing in La Romana with chemical production, shipment to Europe, downstream conversion in Belgium and international distribution from the Netherlands. The model helps explain why the Dominican Republic can lead recorded exports without matching China’s overall production scale: its output is concentrated in an integrated supply chain serving specialized industrial markets.