Haiti bought US$1,040.5 million from the Dominican Republic through September 2026: what that trade is worth, its risks and the cost of closing it

Between January and September 2026, the Dominican Republic exported US$1,040.5 million (FOB) in goods to Haiti, according to preliminary data from the Directorate General of Customs (DGA), 19.5 % more than in the same period of 2025 (US$870.8 million). Haiti was the third destination for Dominican exports, after the United States (US$5,642.7 million) and Canada (US$1,567.8 million), with 8.66 % of the total. Imports from Haiti were only US$0.73 million.

What is sold and how it crosses

Most of it is Dominican production: in January 2026, 75.93 % of exports to Haiti were shipped under the national regime and 14.93 % from free zones. Iron and steel bars, cement, medicines, wheat flour and bakery products led national-regime sales. In January-September 2026, the land customs posts of Elías Piña, Dajabón and Jimaní handled about 89.8 % of the exports (Economía con Datos calculation).

The transit corridor and the risk

Goods from third countries also enter Dominican ports and continue overland to Haiti under the international transit regime; this cargo pays no Dominican taxes and does not appear in export figures. In February 2025, Customs and prosecutors found in the port of Haina a container in transit from Miami to Haiti carrying 36,000 rounds of ammunition and 23 firearms. Since September 15, 2026, the DGA requires 24-hour advance requests for transit operations, limits each company to twenty containers and applies special escort to high-risk operations.

The 2023 precedent

After the government closed the border in September 2023, exports to Haiti fell to US$37.8 million in September and US$32.8 million in October, 41.2 % less than in the same months of 2022 and 55.6 % less than in July-August 2023 (Economía con Datos calculations with DGA data). Sales recovered in the following months.

In our analysis, the data separate two decisions: selling Dominican products, worth about US$3.8 million a day at the 2026 pace, and the transit of third-country cargo, which leaves no tax revenue and is where the documented arms seizure took place. Contraband through unofficial crossings is not captured in Customs statistics.

Source: Dirección General de Aduanas (DGA) (document in Spanish).

This is an English summary by Economía con Datos. Read the full article in Spanish.

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