Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with 80% of the population having to endure a standard of living below the poverty line. Over 50% of Haitians suffer from abject poverty, a percentage that may increase after the recent earthquakes.
Overall, the life expectancy in Haiti is age 61; this contrasts unfavorably with age 81 in Canada and age 78 in the U.S.
Haiti generated a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$11.53 billion in 2008. The tiny island country placed 145th when compared to other countries.
With a population of 9 million, Haitians generated an average GDP of $1,300 per person in 2008. Haiti’s GDP per capita ranked 203rd among the 229 nations that the CIA World Factbook rates.
Haitian International Trade
According to the CIA World Factbook, Haiti imported $2.1 billion worth of foreign goods in 2008. Major commodities imported into Haiti included food, manufactured goods, machinery, transport equipment, fuels and raw materials. Leading suppliers to Haiti were the United States (34%), Dominican Republic (23.1%), Netherlands Antilles (10.6%) and China (4.5%).
As the world’s 163rd most productive exporter, Haiti shipped $490 million worth of exports in 2008. Haitian exports include apparel, oils, cocoa, mangoes, coffee and some manufactured goods. Based on 2008 statistics, top customers for these exports are the United States (70.7%), Dominican Republic (8.9%) and Canada (3.1%).
In total, Haiti’s international trade amounted to $2.6 billion or 22.5% in relation to its overall GDP. This compares with roughly 25% for the U.S. and 60% for Canada. A trade deficit of $1.6 billion shows that Haitians depend heavily on global trade for even the most basic survival products.
Haiti’s Trade with the U.S.
In 2008, Haiti shipped 7.7% fewer exports to America for a $450.1 million total. Over that same period, Haiti consumed $944 million worth of imported U.S. goods – an increase of 38.8%.
After subtracting imports from exports, one can quickly calculate Haiti’s trade deficit with the U.S. to be roughly $494 million for 2008.
The lists below present the top 10 imports and exports that American and the Haitian trade businesses exchanged in 2008.
Haiti’s Top Imports from America
Led by rice and wheat, food items represented over one third of U.S. exports to Haiti in 2008. The top American food export was rice, which also had the highest annual percentage increase among the following top 10 U.S. export products.
- Rice … US$199.3 million, up 79.3% from 2007 (21.1% of US exports to Haiti)
- Wheat… $64.6 million, up 68.6% (6.8%)
- Pharmaceutical preparations … $40.3 million, up 66.8% (4.3%)
- Meat and poultry … $33.8 million, up 26.4% (3.6%)
- Other foods… $26.8 million, up 51.9% (2.8%)
- Cotton fiber cloth… $21.9 million, up 25.3% (2.3%)
- Oilseeds and food oils… $19.79 million, up 102% (2.1%)
- Excavating machinery … $19.78 million, up 258.5% (2.1%)
- Trucks, buses and special purpose vehicles … $18.3 million, up 132.2% (1.9%)
- Unmanufactured agriculture industry products … $16 million, up 157.4% (1.7%).
Haiti’s Top Exports to America
Among the top 10 Haitian exports to the U.S. in 2008, 8 showed increases as high as 436.2% for items made from wool. However, cotton apparel and household goods dominates over 3 quarters of Haitian shipments to America. This shows an overdependence on a labor-intensive, low-paying economic sector.
- Cotton apparel and household goods … US$347.1 million, up 5.9% from 2007 (77.1% of US imports from Haiti)
- Other textile apparel and household goods … $61.1 million, down 50.5% (13.6%)
- Fruits and preparations including frozen juices … $8.2 million, up 6% (1.8%)
- Cocoa beans … $7.8 million, up 46.2% (1.7%)
- Tobacco, waxes and non-food oils … $2.9 million, up 13.9% (0.6%)
- Wool apparel and household goods … $2.5 million, up 436.2% (0.6%)
- Sporting and camping apparel, footwear and gear … $2.4 million, up 76.9% (0.5%)
- Non-textile apparel and household goods … $2.3 million, up 74.2% (0.5%)
- Generators and transformers … $1.7 million, down 22.9% (0.4%)
- Soft beverages and processed coffee … $1.5 million, up 10.4% (0.3%).
Comparative Trade Advantage and Disadvantages
During 2008, Haiti exported $415.3 million worth of apparel and household goods made from a variety of source materials to the U.S. while paying only $12.4 million for American apparel and household goods including athletic and military items.
These Haitian-American trade statistics show that Haiti has a comparative advantage over the U.S. in producing and exporting apparel and household goods made from different fabrics. This is in part due to the large pool of low-cost labor in Haiti.
On the other hand, America supplied $324.6 million worth of wheat, rice, meat, poultry and other food to Haiti in 2008. Haitians export none of these food products to the U.S.
The $324.6 million in net exports to Haiti clearly shows that America has a comparative advantage in trading agricultural food supplies with Haiti.
Haiti’s Rate of Urbanization
Before the devastating earthquakes, Haiti was making some progress in urbanizing its rural-based economy. The CIA World Factbook ranks Haiti’s urbanization level at 47% with an annual 4.5% rate of improvement.
This compares well with mainland China’s 43% urbanization level and 2.7% rate of improvement.
Of course, Haiti was well behind America’s 82% urbanization level and Canada’s 80% urban ratio before the first earthquake struck.
The earthquakes destroyed so much of Haiti’s infrastructure that the island nation has been forced backward by several giant steps.
For most Haitians, the focus is now on surviving from day to day - in conditions even more dire than usual.
Sources:This analysis is based on latest statistics from the US Census Bureau - Foreign Trade Statistics and CIA World Factbook as of the date of article publication.
Daniel Workman - A senior business and finance writer who also does French translations, notably international trade and insurance materials.
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