From electric equipment to breakfast cereal, Minnesota's exports jumped 16% last year to a record high of $27 billion.
Minnesota exports surged 16% to record high of $27 billion last year
Canada and Mexico were the state's top foreign markets, according a state agency report, while China slipped to third place.
March 8, 2023 at 10:19PM
It was the state's second strong year of growth coming out of the pandemic recession and moved Minnesota up one spot to No. 21 in a ranking of states with the highest value of exports, according to a report by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
By comparison, U.S. exports rose 18% last year.
"I am proud to see Minnesota's exports continue to break records," Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement. "Over 200 countries look to our workforce to put food on the table or manufacture their goods. This is another data point that demonstrates the diversity of our economy, strength of our workforce and influence in the global economy."
Mineral fuel and oil, electrical equipment and cereals were some of the products that saw the most growth. Minnesota doesn't have a dominant product or category of exports. Rather, it makes a lot of different goods that are sold around the world, including snowmobiles, hearing aids, spraying equipment, aircraft, iron ore, soybeans and corn.
Minnesota's top-two markets drove a lot of the state's growth in 2022. Exports to Canada surged 36% to nearly $9 billion while exports to Mexico increased 14% to $2.8 billion.
China moved down one spot to be Minnesota's third-largest market with flat growth last year. South Korea also experienced strong gains, though exports to Japan declined by 15%. Asia as a whole fell 2%.
The Netherlands and Spain were other markets that saw significant growth. Regionally, the European Union; Caribbean, Central America and South America; and the Middle East all jumped between 20-30%.
Minnesota traded with about 215 counties last year. It imported about $43 billion in goods in 2022, a 31% increase from the previous year, for roughly a $15 billion trade deficit in 2022.
According to DEED, state exports support about 118,000 jobs — out of nearly 3 million — in Minnesota.
The Birds Eye plant recruited workers without providing all the job details Minnesota law requires.
