Why Lower Global Costs Aren’t Reaching Haitian Consumers

Between September 2025 and January 2026, the FAO global food price index declined by 2.1%. Over the same period, food inflation in Haiti remained anchored between 28 and 32%. Prices are falling worldwide, but not on the plates of Haitians. This disconnect is neither random nor inevitable. It is the product of a market structure in which a few actors control import channels and where declines in international prices are systematically absorbed before reaching the consumer. This study demonstrates it, with figures to support it, based on 37 mo