In this chapter we look first at the evolution of exports by value and volume over the course of the nineteenth century and the changing commodity structure. New ‘nontraditional’ exports would make their appearance, but not all survived until 1900. All the traditional exports, however, were still being exported at the end of the century. We shall also see how the commodity structure changed, with some big winners and losers and a handful whose share remained roughly the same.

Exports create income, which is spent in a variety of ways: on consumption, intermediate and capital goods, for the payment of interest on loans, for the repatriation of profits and in export duties to the tax authorities. In very ‘open’ economies – and all the Caribbean countries fitted this description in the nineteenth century – imported goods constitute a high proportion of final expenditure (public and private), and thus import performance is also a useful guide to living standards.

If exports and imports were always the same, a detailed examination of imports could be brief. However, imports deviated from exports for numerous reasons. In the colonial Caribbean, for example, a large part of exports accrued to absentee landlords whose priority was often the repatriation of profits. As the repatriation of earnings from exports changed, the amount available for imports also altered. An analysis of imports can therefore reveal a great deal, so the first section of the chapter also looks at their evolution and structure.