Bottom line: Haiti's seaborne imports fell by 28.5% in September 2026 to 313,357 tonnes, and 79% of that drop came from cement, which arrives in a few large bulk loads, after a heavy August. Seen by quarter, the picture is steadier: July to September 2026 brought 1.20 million tonnes, 17.1% more than the same quarter of 2025, with the most refined fuel of any quarter in our data and noticeably less rice.
Desk: Claudio, Haiti. Dataset: CargoFax Haiti import shipments (Atlas feed, ocean bills of lading). Period: September 2026, with July to September 2026 and January to September 2026 comparisons. Data vintage: updated 18 October 2026. Coverage: seaborne imports only, measured in tonnes and bills of lading. Weight, not value: this dataset has no dollar values, and none are shown or estimated here. Comparable monthly series begin in January 2025. Revised data: the source data was revised for July to September 2026; shipment counts changed by -152 (July), -209 (August) and +133 (September) against the 12 October 2026 export, and weights moved with them. Figures here use the revised data.
Source: CargoFax analysis of Haiti import manifests (ocean bills of lading) via CargoFax; data updated 2026-10-18. Weight in metric tonnes.
Key findings
- Total imports: 313,357 tonnes in September 2026, down 28.5% from 438,210 tonnes in August 2026 and up 7.6% from 291,209 tonnes in September 2025. It was the lightest month since February 2026.
- Cement explains most of the monthly fall: Portland cement (HS 2523) fell 65.5% to 51,915 tonnes in September 2026, from 150,548 tonnes in August. Without cement, imports fell a smaller 9.1% (to 261,442 tonnes from 287,662 tonnes) and were 19.5% above September 2025.
- The quarter was firmer: July to September 2026 imports reached 1,204,685 tonnes, up 6.1% from the second quarter of 2026 (1,135,261 tonnes) and up 17.1% from the third quarter of 2025 (1,029,108 tonnes).
- Fuel had its heaviest quarter in our data: refined petroleum fuels (HS 2710) totalled 216,829 tonnes in July to September 2026, up 38.0% from 157,138 tonnes a year earlier and the highest quarterly volume since January 2025.
- Rice thinned out: rice (HS 1006) fell to 21,768 tonnes in September 2026, its lowest month since January 2025, and the quarter's 86,294 tonnes were 25.4% below July to September 2025 and the lightest of any quarter in our data. Wheat rose to 40,598 tonnes in September, up 39.8% from August.
The numbers
| Metric (tonnes unless noted) | Sep 2026 | Aug 2026 | Change | Sep 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total imports | 313,357 | 438,210 | -28.5% | 291,209 | +7.6% |
| Bills of lading (count) | 4,378 | 5,470 | -20.0% | 3,173 | +38.0% |
| Refined fuels (HS 2710) | 54,417 | 61,710 | -11.8% | 27,863 | +95.3% |
| Cement (HS 2523) | 51,915 | 150,548 | -65.5% | 72,420 | -28.3% |
| Wheat (HS 1001) | 40,598 | 29,044 | +39.8% | no recorded imports | – |
| Rice (HS 1006) | 21,768 | 40,665 | -46.5% | 38,370 | -43.3% |
| Cane or beet sugar (HS 1701) | 17,699 | 12,056 | +46.8% | 15,946 | +11.0% |
| Imports excluding cement | 261,442 | 287,662 | -9.1% | 218,789 | +19.5% |
| Port-au-Prince | 223,176 | 222,399 | +0.3% | 149,532 | +49.2% |
| Cap-Haïtien | 29,870 | 129,160 | -76.9% | 94,081 | -68.3% |
| Period (tonnes) | 2026 | Prior period | Change | Same period 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July to September (Q3) | 1,204,685 | 1,135,261 (Q2 2026) | +6.1% | 1,029,108 | +17.1% |
| January to September (nine months) | 3,520,491 | – | – | 3,201,442 | +10.0% |
Why did Haiti's imports fall by more than a quarter in September 2026?
Cement is one of Haiti's heaviest imports. In 2025 our records show 1,076,888 tonnes of Portland cement (HS 2523) arriving by sea, about a quarter of all import weight that year. It comes in bulk carriers, not containers, so a handful of ships can move the monthly total by tens of thousands of tonnes.
August 2026 had a lot of those ships. September did not. Cement fell from 150,548 tonnes to 51,915 tonnes, a decline of 65.5%, on 7 bills of lading compared with 12 in August. That one product accounts for 98,633 tonnes of the 124,853-tonne monthly drop, or 79.0%.
Source: CargoFax Haiti import shipments (ocean bills of lading), metric tonnes
Table view
| Cement (HS 2523) | All other goods | |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | 150,548 t | 287,662 t |
| Sep 2026 | 51,915 t | 261,442 t |
The run shows why one month says little on its own: 54,559 tonnes in April 2026, 163,375 in May, 94,014 in June, 174,155 in July, 150,548 in August, and 51,915 in September.
Source: CargoFax Haiti import shipments (ocean bills of lading), metric tonnes
Table view
| Cement | |
|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 31,826 t |
| Feb 2025 | 49,077 t |
| Mar 2025 | 92,882 t |
| Apr 2025 | 52,008 t |
| May 2025 | 136,165 t |
| Jun 2025 | 122,329 t |
| Jul 2025 | 141,900 t |
| Aug 2025 | 105,159 t |
| Sep 2025 | 72,420 t |
| Oct 2025 | 94,884 t |
| Nov 2025 | 57,666 t |
| Dec 2025 | 120,570 t |
| Jan 2026 | 78,540 t |
| Feb 2026 | 54,616 t |
| Mar 2026 | 170,612 t |
| Apr 2026 | 54,559 t |
| May 2026 | 163,375 t |
| Jun 2026 | 94,014 t |
| Jul 2026 | 174,155 t |
| Aug 2026 | 150,548 t |
| Sep 2026 | 51,915 t |
Across July to September 2026, cement reached 376,618 tonnes, up 17.9% from 319,480 tonnes in the same quarter of 2025. Through nine months, 992,333 tonnes have arrived, up 23.5% from 803,767 tonnes in January to September 2025 and already 92% of the full-year 2025 total.
The physical route changed too. In August, cement from the Turkish ports of Iskenderun and Aliaga went mostly to Cap-Haïtien, which received 129,160 tonnes of all goods, its heaviest month since our series begins. In September, Cap-Haïtien took 29,870 tonnes, down 76.9%. The month's largest cement load, 31,353 tonnes from Istanbul, went to Saint-Louis-du-Sud on the south coast, which received 44,558 tonnes on just 10 bills of lading (14.2% of the month's weight). Smaller loads came from Egypt, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic.
Port-au-Prince held steady at 223,176 tonnes, 0.3% more than in August and 71.2% of the month's weight. Across the quarter its share was 63.3%, close to 63.8% in July to September 2025. Access to the capital's seaport remains a security concern: in August, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States listed "ensuring access to the airport and seaport" among the priorities for the international effort against gangs, according to Africanews and AP. Our records do not show a September disruption at Port-au-Prince itself.
We found no reporting that explains the timing of cement shipments in August and September 2026, so the data does not show why August was heavy. Bulk cargo of this kind often follows vessel schedules and stock levels rather than month-to-month demand.
What the data shows: September's drop is mostly a cement timing story. Cement volume for the quarter and the year so far is higher than in 2025; October's records will show whether August's heavy deliveries are followed by a pause or a return to normal.
Is Haiti bringing in more fuel in 2026?
Refined petroleum fuels (HS 2710: gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and similar) were Haiti's largest single import by weight in September 2026, and second only to cement over 2025, when our records show 690,974 tonnes, about 16% of all import weight.
2026 has run heavier: 585,027 tonnes in January to September 2026, up 21.2% from 482,756 tonnes a year earlier. By quarter, 202,974 tonnes in Q1 2026, 165,224 in Q2, and 216,829 in Q3 (up 31.2% from Q2 and 38.0% from 157,138 tonnes in Q3 2025). July 2026 alone brought 100,703 tonnes, the heaviest fuel month since January 2025. September's 54,417 tonnes were 11.8% below August but 95.3% above September 2025.
The route is concentrated. In September, most fuel arrived on tankers from St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands (27,859 tonnes) and Pasadena, Texas (24,962 tonnes), both into Port-au-Prince; in July and August, Trinidad and Tobago and Sint Eustatius also appeared.
This is a volume story, not a price story: the measure is tonnes, so higher world oil prices do not inflate it. Prices did rise sharply this year. The World Bank's monthly price data shows Brent crude averaging $116.8 a barrel in September 2026, up from $68.0 in September 2025. In Haiti, the government "increased diesel prices by 37% and gasoline prices by 29%" in early April 2026, as rising oil prices set off protests, AP reported.
Why tonnes rose while prices climbed, the data does not show. Possibilities include (a) stock rebuilding after disruptions earlier in the year, (b) more demand for generator and transport fuel, or (c) the timing of large tanker cargoes. We found no verified reporting that settles it.
What the data shows: Haiti's seaborne fuel imports in July to September 2026 were the heaviest of any quarter since January 2025, despite higher world prices. The reason for the increase is not established.
Why is less rice arriving while wheat rises?
Rice is Haiti's main staple, and most of it is imported. In 2025 our records show 495,662 tonnes of rice arriving by sea, mostly from U.S. Gulf ports. Port-au-Prince "remains the critical entry node for rice imports," according to an April 2026 market analysis by CMB News.
The first half of 2026 was heavy (79,351 tonnes in March alone), so the year to date is still ahead: 376,067 tonnes through September, up 14.8% from 327,546 tonnes a year earlier. Then the third quarter turned lighter: 23,860 tonnes in July, 40,665 in August, and 21,768 in September, the lowest month since January 2025. July to September 2026 rice totalled 86,294 tonnes, down 36.2% from 135,356 tonnes in the second quarter and 25.4% from 115,692 tonnes in July to September 2025. In September, about 19,300 tonnes came from U.S. Gulf ports, with smaller container loads from India and the Dominican Republic.
Wheat moved the other way. Wheat (HS 1001), all from U.S. Gulf ports in September, rose 39.8% to 40,598 tonnes. Through nine months, wheat reached 223,297 tonnes, up 62.6% from 137,364 tonnes in January to September 2025. Wheat also arrives in a few bulk loads (4 bills of lading in September), so single months swing widely. Cane sugar rose 46.8% to 17,699 tonnes. Cooking oils weakened: animal and vegetable fats and oils (HS chapter 15) fell for a fourth straight month, to 7,538 tonnes in September from 15,085 tonnes in May.
Prices matter for families buying food, even though they do not change our tonnes. FEWS NET's July 2026 update says "staple food prices remain nearly 90 percent above the five-year average" in Haiti (FEWS NET). World rice prices also rose: the World Bank's Thai 5% benchmark averaged $482 a tonne in September 2026, up from $374 a year earlier. Whether the lighter rice quarter reflects higher costs, stocks built up in the first half, or shipment timing, the data does not show.
What the data shows: Rice arrivals were light in July to September 2026 after a heavy first half, while wheat and sugar rose. With food prices well above normal, the coming months' rice volumes are worth watching closely.
Across the border: Hispaniola
Haiti's land border with the Dominican Republic carries a large share of its food and building materials, and almost none of it appears in this dataset, which covers seaborne shipments only.
Our seaborne data: goods shipped to Haiti by sea from the Dominican Republic were 10,877 tonnes in September 2026, down 44.9% from 19,742 tonnes in September 2025 and down 56.0% from 24,718 tonnes in August, 3.5% of Haiti's seaborne imports.
Source: CargoFax Haiti import shipments (ocean bills of lading), metric tonnes
Table view
| From the Dominican Republic, by sea | |
|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 11,372 t |
| Feb 2025 | 17,332 t |
| Mar 2025 | 26,441 t |
| Apr 2025 | 15,880 t |
| May 2025 | 15,917 t |
| Jun 2025 | 24,602 t |
| Jul 2025 | 64,182 t |
| Aug 2025 | 25,923 t |
| Sep 2025 | 19,742 t |
| Oct 2025 | 28,824 t |
| Nov 2025 | 18,510 t |
| Dec 2025 | 13,985 t |
| Jan 2026 | 16,899 t |
| Feb 2026 | 42,586 t |
| Mar 2026 | 56,378 t |
| Apr 2026 | 21,752 t |
| May 2026 | 37,880 t |
| Jun 2026 | 24,229 t |
| Jul 2026 | 25,994 t |
| Aug 2026 | 24,718 t |
| Sep 2026 | 10,877 t |
The overland trade, from Dominican customs (the CargoFax Dominican Republic desk, August 2026): Dominican exports to Haiti grew 14.3% year on year, about 91% of them cleared at the Elías Piña, Dajabón, and Jimaní land border posts, and weight rose 24.2% to 145,900 tonnes. Rebar, cement, and wheat flour led. elDinero reported the same mix for the first half of 2026, and Revista Mercado reported the Dominican customs agency's count of growing exports to Haiti through August.
The nuance: the falling seaborne figure and the rising overland figure are not in conflict; they measure different routes. The September overland figure is not yet available.
What the data shows: Haiti's supply from the Dominican Republic moves overwhelmingly by land and has been growing in 2026, while the small seaborne route fell in September.
Verification notes
- Unspecified origin: "Other or unspecified" was 64,606 tonnes (20.6%) in September 2026, up from 14,816 tonnes in August, mostly two bulk loads with a blank origin field (31,353 tonnes of cement loaded in Istanbul, 24,962 tonnes of fuel loaded in Pasadena, Texas). Country shares this month understate Turkey and the United States.
- Small baselines: coated steel (HS 7210, 386 to 2,408 tonnes) and concentrated milk (HS 0402, 734 to 1,571 tonnes) rose from August on a few bills of lading each. Vietnam (1,220 to 104,660 tonnes) and Trinidad and Tobago (570 to 53,242 tonnes), July to September versus a year earlier, rose from very small bases on a few bulk loads.
- CargoFax code 9990 (unclassified general cargo) fell from 12,241 to 1,606 tonnes; it was far larger in early 2025 (165,747 tonnes in May 2025), so year-to-date comparisons for it are not meaningful. No wheat was recorded in September 2025, so no year-on-year wheat rate is given.
- Diaspora and aid codes: used goods and personal effects (code 9991, largely barrels and boxes sent by families abroad) were 5,210 tonnes, down 33.4% from August and 19.6% from September 2025, but 0.8% above 2025 through nine months. Donations and humanitarian relief (code 9993) were 69 tonnes.
- TEU: container counts are not in this month's files; this report uses tonnes and bills of lading.
What to watch
- October 2026 cement: whether bulk cargoes return to the 150,000-tonne range of July and August or stay near September's level.
- Rice in the fourth quarter: a second light quarter would stand out given FEWS NET's price warnings; the next FEWS NET update is the outside check.
- Fuel: whether tanker volumes hold near Q3 2026 levels while Brent stays above $100 a barrel.
- Port access: security around Port-au-Prince's seaport and the routes out of the capital, which the OAS flagged in August.
- Cap-Haïtien and Saint-Louis-du-Sud: how much bulk cargo keeps landing outside the capital.
Methodology and data notes
Figures come from CargoFax's Haiti import records (ocean bills of lading, Atlas feed), in metric tonnes as declared, by month, HS 4-digit product, origin, port, loading port, and carrier. There are no customs values; CargoFax never publishes or estimates dollar values for Haiti. The feed updates weekly, so late manifests may revise recent months (vintage: 18 October 2026). "Highest" and "lowest" refer to the window since January 2025. Quarters are sums of months. HS 9990 to 9994 are CargoFax categories for cargo without a standard product code. Importers are never named. Outside reporting on Haiti's trade is thin: four sources passed verification, and several movements are described without a cause. Please cite "CargoFax Haiti import data" when using these figures.
Sources
Every link on this page passed the verification gate (live article, date in window, quote found, archived). Tier 1: Bloomberg, WSJ, Reuters, FT. Tier 2: other highly relevant sources (trade press, government, company releases, local press).
Tier 1
No Tier 1 source on this page.
Tier 2
- Tier 2 Africanews. Regional body says Haiti need help ahead of holding first election in a decade. 2026-08-20 archive
- Tier 2 WTOP News. Surging oil prices spark protest in Haiti as workers demand salary increases. 2026-04-13 archive
- Tier 2 CMB News. Haiti Rice Market 2026: Rising Import Needs and Security Risks. 2026-04-15 archive
- Tier 2 FEWS NET. Conflict and elevated prices continue to restrict access to food in Haïti. 2026-07-01 archive
- Tier 2 Periódico elDinero. Exportaciones dominicanas hacia Haití crecen 22.5% en el primer semestre de 2026. 2026-07-17 archive
- Tier 2 Mercado Media Network. Comercio entre RD y Haití: Crecen las exportaciones pero caen las importaciones. 2026-09-22 archive
Data sources
- World Bank Commodity Price Data (The Pink Sheet), monthly nominal prices for Brent crude and Thai 5% rice, retrieved 19 October 2026.