Year over year, Jamaica’s exports appreciated by 31.9% compared to $1.049 billion during 2020.
Haiti occupies the western three-eighths of Hispaniola located on the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea, sharing the remaining area of the island with the Dominican Republic.
Haiti’s top 5 most valuable exported products are knitted or crocheted t-shirts and vests, knitted or crocheted jerseys and pullovers, knitted or crocheted women’s clothing, unknitted and non-crocheted men’s suits and trousers, and unknitted and non-crocheted men’s shirts. Collectively, that cohort of 5 major commodities represents almost three quarters (73.2%) of the overall value of Haitian exported goods during 2021. That percentage suggests a highly concentrated portfolio of exported goods specific to the clothing industry.
Haiti’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 92% of products exported from Haiti by value were bought by importers in: United States of America (56.4% of Haiti’s global total), France (12.5%), Canada (4.4%), Thailand (4.2%), Spain (2.8%), Taiwan (2.3%), United Kingdom (2.2%), Dominican Republic (2.1%), Vietnam (1.6%), mainland China (1.4%), Belgium (1.1%) and Jamaica (1%).
Applying a continental lens, 61.1% of Haiti’s exports by value were delivered to North American countries while 19.9% were sold to European importers. Haiti shipped another 12.6% worth of goods to Asia.
Smaller percentages went to Latin America (5%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (1.4%), and Oceania (0.1%) principally Australia and New Zealand.
Given Haiti’s population of 11.9 million people, its total $1.383 billion worth exports in 2021 translates to roughly $120 for every resident in the West Indian country. That dollar metric eclipses the average $90 per capita one year earlier during 2020.
Haiti’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Haitian global shipments during 2021. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Haiti.
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: US$955.6 million (69.1% of total exports)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $177.9 million (12.9%)
- Perfumes, cosmetics: $33.7 million (2.4%)
- Fish: $31 million (2.2%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $25.6 million (1.8%)
- Fruits, nuts: $20.1 million (1.4%)
- Iron, steel: $19.7 million (1.4%)
- Headgear: $18.8 million (1.4%)
- Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing: $18.2 million (1.3%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $7.8 million (0.6%)
Haiti’s top 10 exports accounted for 94.6% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Iron and steel represents the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 80.4% from 2020 to 2021.
In second place for improving export sales was headgear via a 79.3% advance in revenues.
Haiti’s shipments of electrical machinery, equipment posted the third-fastest uptick in value up by 61.9%.
The lone decliner among Haiti’s top 10 export categories was miscellaneous textiles including worn clothing thanks to a -35.8% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, knitted or crocheted t-shirts and vests represent Haiti’s most valuable exported product at 35.3% of the country’s total. In second place was knitted or crocheted jerseys and pullovers (20%) trailed by knitted or crocheted women’s clothing (9.5%), unknitted and non-crocheted men’s suits and trousers (5.3%), unknitted and non-crocheted men’s shirts (3.2%), essential oils (2.4%), unknitted and non-crocheted tracksuits and swimwear (also 2.4%) then live fish (1.7%).
Products Generating Haiti’s Largest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Haitian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: US$809.6 million (Up by 43.8% since 2020)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $161.8 million (Up by 89.4%)
- Fruits, nuts: $17.9 million (Up by 17%)
- Headgear: $16.9 million (Up by 89.8%)
- Feathers, artificial flowers, hair: $4.3 million (Down by -41%)
- Copper: $3.9 million (Up by 12.3%)
- Cocoa: $3 million (Down by -32.7%)
- Fish: $2.2 million (Reversing a -$4 million deficit)
- Collector items, art, antiques: $455,000 (Up by 4.4%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $290,000 (Down by -58.4%)
Haiti has highly positive net exports in the international trade of clothing and related accessories. In turn, these cashflows indicate Haiti’s strong competitive advantages under the clothing and accessories product categories.
Products Generating Haiti’s Worst Trade Deficits
Overall Haiti incurred an estimated -$3 billion trade deficit for 2021 down by -6.6% from -$3.2 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2020.
Below are exports from Haiti that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Haiti’s goods trail Haitian importer spending on foreign products.
- Cereals: -US$325.9 million (Down by -7.7% since 2020)
- Mineral fuels including oil: -$289.1 million (Up by 25.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$234.9 million (Up by 17.6%)
- Knit or crochet fabric: -$210.8 million (Up by 29.4%)
- Vehicles : -$208.4 million (Up by 43%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$189 million (Up by 14.7%)
- Cotton: -$175.3 million (Up by 45.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$171.7 million (Down by -17.3%)
- Iron, steel: -$161 million (Up by 0.9%)
- Meat: -$151.6 million (Up by 39.5%)
Haiti has to endure highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for rice, wheat and to a lesser extent corn under the cereals product category.
Haitian Export Companies
Not one Haitian corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists some exports-related companies from Haiti. Selected examples are shown below.
- Brasserie de la Couronne (soft drinks)
- Brasserie Nationale d’Haïti (brewery)
- Comme Il Faut (tobacco)
- Handxom (electronics)
- Rhum Barbancourt (alcoholic beverages)
- Sûrtab (computer hardware including tablets)
- Unibank (commercial bank)
In macroeconomic terms, Haiti’s total exported goods represent 3.8% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2021 ($36.1 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 3.8% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2021 compares to 3.1% for 2020. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Haiti’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Haiti’s average unemployment rate was forecast to be 15.5% at the end of 2021, up from an average 14.5% in 2020 according to Trading Economics.
Haiti’s capital city is Port-au-Prince.
See also Aruba’s Top 10 Exports, Mexico’s Top Trading Partners, Jamaica’s Top 10 Exports and Dominican Republic’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Central America and Caribbean: Haiti. Accessed on July 14, 2022
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Haiti. Accessed on July 14, 2022
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 14, 2022
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity)
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 14, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 14, 2022
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 14, 2022
Wikipedia, Jordan. Accessed on July 14, 2022
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Haiti. Accessed on July 14, 2022
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 14, 2022
World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Accessed on July 14, 2022
