Dominican Republic Resists US Push to Fully Open Rice Market

No imports since January

The Dominican Republic has not imported rice since January 2026, when Agriculture Minister Francisco Oliverio Espaillat Bencosme took office, the minister said, according to Diario Financiero. The country currently holds an inventory of approximately 7.2 million quintales of the cereal, sufficient to supply the domestic market without authorizing additional external purchases.

Espaillat cited a delay in late 2025 in a shipment from the United States tied to the preferential rice quota for that period. Despite the delay, domestic supply was not interrupted, he said, thanks to available national production. The rice that eventually arrived in early January 2026 corresponded to 23,300 metric tons under the preferential quota for US-origin rice established by DR-CAFTA, the free trade agreement between the Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States.

Dispute over Decree 693-24

The United States has asked the Dominican government to repeal Decree 693-24, arguing the measure affects market-access conditions for US rice under DR-CAFTA, according to deultimominuto.com and Listín Diario. The decree sets a preferential quota of 23,300 metric tons of US rice at a zero tariff; volumes beyond that quota face a Most Favored Nation tariff of 99%.

President Luis Abinader said Wednesday that the government is negotiating with the United States based on the trade treaty and the zero-tariff provision, but did not specify whether an agreement has been reached on repealing or modifying the decree. The political party Frente Amplio separately warned of the negative impact a repeal of Decree 693-24 could have, Prensa Latina reported.

Producers warn of unpreparedness

Tito Hernández, president of the National Association of Agricultural Professionals (ANPA), said the Dominican Republic is not prepared to face a full opening of the rice market and that meeting the US request could jeopardize one of the country's main agricultural activities, Listín Diario and deultimominuto.com reported. Hernández said that over roughly two decades of DR-CAFTA tariff phase-down, the sector should have modernized irrigation systems, reduced production costs, renewed varieties, strengthened research, and expanded financing and mechanization — steps he said were not fully taken.

According to Hernández, eliminating the current protections could affect around 30,000 producers and an economic chain that authorities said, when the decree was announced, exceeds RD$45,000 million a year. He warned that Dominican producers would have to compete with larger-scale, more mechanized US agriculture, and that a sudden opening could push local prices down, increase debt levels and reduce planted area. He also warned of a risk that the country could progressively lose its self-sufficiency capacity and become more dependent on imports of a staple food.

• Current rice inventory: approximately 7.2 million quintales
• DR-CAFTA preferential quota for US rice: 23,300 metric tons at zero tariff
• Tariff on volumes above quota: 99% Most Favored Nation rate
• Producers potentially affected by full opening: approximately 30,000
• Value of the rice economic chain: more than RD$45,000 million a year

Proposed path forward

Hernández proposed an independent study of the economic, social and food-security effects of a market opening, as well as transition mechanisms and protections for producers in the talks with the United States. “The ANPA's position must be clear: we are not against trade or against complying with international agreements. We are against sacrificing the Dominican producer to pay for the consequences of twenty years of lack of preparation,” he said.

Espaillat, speaking at the Feria Expo Pueblo Nuevo 2026, asked producers and industry to remain calm and trust the government's handling of the negotiations. “Our producers have shown up in the most difficult moments, and that speaks to the strength the sector has today,” he said, adding that President Abinader “has shown sufficient evidence that he is an ally of national production.”