While cocoa exports reached $4.48 million in 2023, compared to $3.23 million in 2022, the sector remains far below the 2016 exports of $9.65 million or the 2020 exports of $10.84 million, according to Le Nouvelliste, which consulted the export table compiled by the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH) in early January 2024.

The fluctuating exports in the cocoa sector are explained by conjunctural and structural problems. "The country experienced severe drought in 2023 from January to March, significantly affecting the production of the major March-June harvest. The volumes and quality of collected cocoa dropped drastically last year," revealed Aline Etlicher, PISA/Nord Manager, a production subsidiary of the REBO Group, which started operations in the cocoa sector in the North in 2014. Guito Gilot from the Federation of Cacao Cooperatives of the North, representing 4000 producers, including 41% women, acknowledged, "the national cocoa production dropped from 20,000 metric tons during the 1960s to less than 5,000 metric tons currently."