Haiti: Key Industries

Haiti's economy is anchored by agriculture, light manufacturing, and remittances from Haitians living abroad. Agriculture employs roughly two-thirds of the workforce, though most farming is small-scale and geared toward subsistence rather than export; coffee, cocoa, mangoes, and vetiver are among the leading export crops, and Haiti is one of the world's largest producers of vetiver oil, an essential oil used in high-end perfumery.

The apparel and textile sector is the largest formal manufacturing industry and the country's leading export earner, benefiting from duty-free access to the United States market under trade legislation such as the HOPE and HELP Acts. Assembly plants, concentrated mainly around Port-au-Prince and in northern industrial parks, produce garments primarily for export rather than domestic consumption, making the sector a significant, if fragile, source of formal employment.

As of 2026, remittances from the Haitian diaspora, concentrated in the United States and Canada, continue to serve as the country's largest source of foreign exchange, equaling roughly a fifth of GDP and exceeding total export earnings. Chronic political instability, insecurity, and weak infrastructure have constrained industrial investment and disrupted agricultural and manufacturing supply chains in recent years, leaving services, including informal trade, as the largest overall contributor to GDP even amid limited formal-sector growth.