AMERICAN SOFTWOODS

CONSTRUEXPO Tradeshow May 17-19, 2019

MAP 2019 M19GX-S39CA (M19D-39-920-CA-3) and M19GX-X29CA

A. TRAVELERS: Gabriela Sandoval, American Softwoods Latin American Office, Mexico City, Mexico

Hector Dimas, Boise Cascade (APA member)

Pete Donato, Boise Cascade (APA member)

Brent Henning, Putnam Lumber (SFPA member)

Greg Fitz, Interfor (SFPA member)

Nicholas Herrera, Wood Traders International (SFPA member)

Andres Julio Matos, Wood Traders International (SFPA member)

B. PURPOSE OF TRAVEL AND CONSTRAINT/ OPPORTUNITY ADDRESSED: To participate in the ConstruExpo 2019 trade show in Santo Domingo City, Dominican Republic. Limited knowledge of American structural panels and engineered wood products, grades, characteristics and SYP treatments and construction systems among importers/distributors, architects/designers and builders/contractors has impeded increased specification of U.S. wood products. Increased knowledge of the types of products available (and their optimal uses), as well as continued education on grading/

characteristics will make the trade more comfortable working with U.S. wood products and will result in higher specification rates. C. ITINERARY: May 13 – Herrera and Matos depart cities of origin and arrive in Santo Domingo. They are out of travel status until May 16.

May 15- Dimas and Donato depart cities of origin and arrive in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

May 16 – Sandoval, Henning and Fitz depart cities of origin and arrive in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

May 17 – First day of ConstruExpo tradeshow.

May 18 – Second day of ConstruExpo tradeshow.

May 19 – Third day of ConstruExpo tradeshow. Dimas, Donato, Herrera, Matos, Henning and Fitz return home.

May 20 – Sandoval returns home.

D. SUMMARY AND OBSERVATIONS ConstruExpo Tradeshow This year was the XXX Edition of ConstruExpo. This tradeshow takes place every two years and is one of the most important exhibitions in the Dominican Republic - it is the only one dedicated to the construction industry. The trade show was held at the Convention Center of the Dominican Fiesta Hotel and it attracted nearly 60 exhibitors, including foreign companies from China, Italy, USA, Mexico and Guatemala.

Visitors at our booth included architects, interior designers, builders and engineers, building materials distributors, furniture manufacturers, carpenters, students and teachers.

Most of the attendees had knowledge on plywood and SYP and currently use it to manufacture furniture. Also, they had used these products for construction purposes such as formwork, roof and floor sheathing, cabins, pergolas and decks for some time. It is important to mention that consumers in the Dominican Republic need more educational information on our products concerning uses and applications. Some of them have limited knowledge on HDO, MDO and PSF concrete forming panels and in most of cases, they still build with the traditional formwork system, using plywood.

Regarding OSB, some of the booth attendees had worked with it but only for appearance applications, rather than structural. They used it to cover a wall in a gym for decoration. Another visitor commented that he has seen OSB in the Virgin Islands for roofs and structures, because their building codes allows that type of

construction, but in the Dominican Republic, he has not seen that type of structural application.

Regarding other products, an architect wanted to buy glulam beams in stock sizes to be able to sell to contractors.

The majority of the booth visitors were looking for local distributors and it became clear that everyone knows the companies that import and sell in the Dominican Republic. The most popular products at the tradeshow were plywood and SYP and few showed interest in OSB.

The general concern voiced by the booth visitors was about weather conditions, especially because of the location of the country. They mentioned their concerns for our products regarding humidity, high winds and seismic resistance, termite damage and the insulation required on their construction systems, especially due to safety and cost.

E. NAMES OF PRINCIPAL CONTACTS • Acana - Glulam Estructuras de Madera Laminada (Importers)

Juan Isaac - General Manager, Architect / Glulam Structures Calle Tercera No. 29, Edif Yu, 3er Piso Zona Industrial Herrera, Santo Domingo, DR (+1) 809-537-3615 ; (+1) 809-809-481-5537 jisaac@acanaglulam.com www.acanaglulam.com https://pt.slideshare.net/JuanIsaac2/acana-glulam-portfolio-61887451?smtNoRedir=1 A DR company that installs and manufactures glulam beams. They are interested in buying glulam in one standard size to sell to other contractors and want treated beams. He wants to know the price FOB Santo Domingo (standard size of glulam).

• Ebanisteria y Carpintería Mario (Importers)

Mario del Rosario – Owner - Furniture Manufacturer / Interior Design Carretera Estancia, La Trinchera, Jarabacoa La Vega, Dominican Republic 829-383-8627, 809-574-6911, marioebanisteria@hotmail.com www.marioebanisteria.com They were exhibiting at the tradeshow, they are buying SYP approx. 800 ft per month, without treatment. They want a quote of SYP for a housing project.

• Maderas Roant (Importers)

Anthony Santana - Sales Manager - Lumber distributors Calle Duvergé 101, Higuey / Punta Cana, Altagracia, Dominican Republic 809-554-4252, 809-554-4377, 809-769-3554 anthony_sg45@hotmail.com They are currently importing from Brazil and Chile; 2x4 + wider dressed lumber, they buy 40 ft containers, they are consuming 5000 ft per month, they want price of SYP.

• Ceballos y Asociados SRL (They could import)

Lic. Mario Ceballos R. - Projects and Builders – Furniture and finishes C/Cub Scouts #6, 2o. Piso, Naco, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 809-472-1906, 829-830-0106 solucionesceballosyasociados@gmail.com www.solucionesceballosyasociados.com They are looking for construction materials and prices for one project, to build cabins and chalets

• Equiport (Importers)

Lucia del Castillo - Container repair firm Av. Independencia Km 12 1/2, Haina Oriental, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 809-547-3602 l.delcastillo@equiport.com.do www.equiport.com.do

They are using plywood to repair containers; currently importing from USA (Miami) by consolidated container, approx. 15/20 panels, they are importing because it is more expensive if they buy it in the DR.

• Elementia / Fibrocentro-Plycem Division (Importers)

José Frank Amador - Sales promoter for DR and Haiti - Building Material Distributor Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 809-467-7537 jamador@elementia.com www.elementia.com www.plycem.com They are a fiber-cement manufacturer and are looking for construction materials that could work effectively with their product to cover the fiber-cement. They have a housing project.

• La Charpente SRL (They could import)

Miguel Moscat - Builder, wood structures Santiago, Dominican Republic 829-808-1360, 809-669-9246 lacharpenterd@gmail.com https://www.lacharpenterd.com/ They build wood structures (roof, pergolas, decks etc.) and are using a lot of SYP that they buy from local distributors. They have a project in Antigua and Barbuda, they would like to import but need to know prices and volumes.

LIST OF TRADE SHOW ATTENDEES

NAME COMPANY

Madepre - Maderas Preciosas SRL

Ivor Ortega MADEX GROUP

Leonardo Villalona Norte de RD

Vladimir Pimentel F. KHOURY Industrial

Michael W. Scott Industrias de Integración Ambiental Dominicana

Jose Manuel Rodriguez Agencia Alemana, S. R. L

Jayron Castro Engineer

Albertino José Reyes Engineer

Antonio Guerra Engineer

Raymundo Martinez Genology

Ariel Acosta MOVOX Arquitectura

Plinio Lora Architect

Pablo Suriel Langumas DIV. Inmobiliaria de Carribean Construction SRL

Rony Dolphine Transpak

Luisa Fernandez Santos Independent - Lawyer

Carlos Alberto Encarnacion Sanchez Oblicuo Arquitectura Integral

Malta Paulino Obras Publicas -Independent

Jorge Alfonseca Builder

Elena Gorodazheva Investors

Rossa Rodriguez Interior Design

Belkys Almazan Architect

Hamlet Tejeda Architect

Jose Ramirez Builder

Franklin L. Hirujo R. Hirujo Arquitectura y Graphics Designer

Espin Rafael Dicent Velez Civil Engineer

William Mendez Estudio 56

Aismel Soto Tejada MERAN-SOTO Constructora

Estefany Santana Engineer

Elizardo Ruiz Arquidos / UNPHU University

Laura Beltran Constructora AG

Manuel Rosas HOGARNET, SRL

Fernando Arturo García Architect

Laura Samuels Architect

Nestor Julio Cedeño A. NJHOME, Constructora SRL

Rayner Guzman Arquicentro SRL

Adriano Colli Anillo Group

Angel Manuel Figuereo Independent / Empleado EDO

Guillermo Ruiz Engineer

Heliset Ranse Student

Nilka Urbaes Student

Rafael Monegro Architect

Radaurlyn Arisdiendy Mathiesen Group

Carlos Nuñez Nuba Real Estate Develompments

Josue Silva KETMA

Robert Daniel Cedeño KETMA

Francisco Emilio Contin Almonte Pastic Artist

Ivonne Sanchez Architect

Arsenio Peña Peña Duran y Asociados

Tamika de Reyes Green Man Designs

Hector Camacho Torres y Asociados

Fleyri Rosario Fhip

Erika Castillo Inarprocom

René Perez Independent

Arlina Gonzalez Architect

Patricia Morelo Grupo Inmobilario Morimar

Miguel Hernandez Independent

Camila Sanchez Architect

Lia Pichardo Architect

Nicol Tejeda Student

Jose Villar Independent / JVA Proyectos Civiles, SRL

Andres Sanchez AS Ingenieria SRL

Cesar Perez Compemsa

Miguel A. Soto Engineer

Anita Javier Gomez Javier y Asociados S.R.L

Carlos Gomez Builder

Cesar Proaño Rios Compañia de Proyectos de Ingenieria

Angel Diaz Glass Service

Ernesto Perez Eurodiseños

Angel Luis Caballos Poueriat Ing. Angel Luis y Associados

F. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The Dominican Republic is a consumer market very interested and willing to learn about US panels and lumber.

By exhibiting at this trade show, we were given the opportunity to educate visitors regarding uses and applications of U.S. SYP and

panels. In our opinion, there is still an ongoing lack of knowledge about some products and their uses and we must continue our efforts and deliver educational activities, seminars and trade servicing, in Santiago, Santo Domingo and Bavaro next year.

G. COPIES DISTRIBUTED TO:

TO: Elizabeth Autry, Senior Attaché, and Lisa Ahramijan, Attaché, Office of Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Embassy/Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Erich Kuss, Director, and Mary Parrish, Deputy Director, Agricultural Trade Office/Mexico City Enrique Mazon, FAS HQ Brad Rose, Rose Research

CC: Charlie Barnes and Shelly Wiseman, APA HQ Tami Kessler, Southern Forest Products Association