Haiti

Foreign trade

Coffee has been supplanted as the main export by manufactured articles assembled in Haiti. The high deficit in the trade balance, with a marginal increase in exports and continued high import buoyancy in the late 1990s, reflects pent-up aggregate demand that is not satisfied by domestic production. Narrowing the trade deficit will therefore require a policy mix that prioritizes export-oriented productive sectors.

The light manufacture of clothes in Haiti accounts for the majority of commodity exports (56%). Other exports include essential oils (5.6%), coffee (5.4%), tropical fruits and vegetables (5.4%), and paper products (4.8%). Haiti's biggest export market is, by far, the US. Principal trading partners in 1998 (in millions of US dollars) were as follows:

Haiti

COUNTRY EXPORTS IMPORTS BALANCE
United States 256 603 -347
France 8 35 -27
Canada 3 15 -12
Germany 2 17 -15
United Kingdom 1 15 -14
Japan 1 44 -43
Netherlands 1 22 -21
Dominican Republic n.a. 38 n.a.
Colombia n.a. 29 n.a.

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