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Haiti Domestic Manufacturing
Attempts at
import-substitution (see Glossary)
manufacturing
gave most local factories generous import protection from
the
1970s to the mid-1980s, thereby insulating them from
foreign
competition. Industries of this kind produced paper,
matches,
cardboard, footwear, leather, food products, beverages,
rubber,
plastics, metals, building materials, textiles,
cigarettes, soap,
beer, and other basic goods. Most local factories were
small or
medium in size. Some very small producers demonstrated
incredible
ingenuity in transforming virtual junk into usable goods,
but the
limited domestic market and the weak purchasing power of
most
Haitians severely limited economies of scale, forcing most
enterprises to function inefficiently and below capacity.
A
handful of local manufacturers, who produced rum, paints,
essential oils, leather, and handicrafts, were able to
expand
their businesses through exports. Haitian rum was of
exceptional
quality, as were the country's handicrafts.
Nongovernmental
organizations were particularly active in marketing
handicrafts
in the United States and Europe.
In 1986 the CNG enacted broad import-liberalization
policies
and abolished long-standing import protection, forcing
local
producers to compete internationally. As a consequence,
domestic
manufacturing, already hampered by competition with
lower-priced
goods smuggled into Haiti from the Dominican Republic,
experienced a painful transition in the late 1980s. Many
manufacturers closed their doors.
The other major manufacturing subsector was large-scale
production by state-owned enterprises of items such as
vegetable
oils, sugar, flour, and cement. From 1980 to 1985, the
government
either built, or bought, a majority share in five of the
country's largest manufacturing companies. As the losses
of these
inefficient parastatals mounted, reaching more than 4
percent of
GDP from 1982 to 1985, international lenders increasingly
pressured the government to divest its interests in these
ventures, a process that began after 1986.
Data as of December 1989
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