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Hawaii

Hawaii Trade Facts

  • In 2018, Hawaii exported $660 million of Made-in-America goods to the world.  In 2016, exports from Hawaii supported an estimated 3,232 jobs.

Exports from Hawaii and Jobs

  • Hawaii was the 50th largest state exporter of goods in 2018.
     
  • In 2018, Hawaii goods exports were $660 million, a decrease of 31 percent ($300 million) from its export level in 2008.
     
  • Goods exports accounted for 0.7 percent of Hawaii GDP in 2018.
     
  • Hawaii goods exports in 2016 (latest year available) supported an estimated 3,232 jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Made-in-America Manufacturing Exports from Hawaii and Jobs

  • In 2018, Hawaii exported $483 million of manufactured products.
     
  • Hawaii exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 2,651 jobs in 2016.
     
  • The state's largest manufacturing export category is petroleum & coal products, which accounted for $303 million of Hawaii's total goods exports in 2018.
     
  • Other top manufacturing exports are transportation equipment ($53 million), food & kindred products ($47 million), computer & electronic products ($21 million), and beverages & tobacco products ($16 million).

Exports Sustain Thousands of Hawaii Businesses many of which are SMEs

  • A total of 781 companies exported from Hawaii locations in 2016 (latest year available). Of those, 679 (87 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
     
  • Small and medium-sized firms generated 63.6 percent of Hawaii's total exports of goods in 2016.

Hawaii Depends on World Markets

  • The state’s largest market was Korea. Hawaii exported $233 million in goods to Korea in 2018, representing 35 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
     
  • Korea was followed by Japan ($72 million), Singapore ($66 million), Malaysia ($61 million), and China ($35 million).
  • Hawaii’s exports (2018 values) to major world areas included:

    • APEC $582 million

    • Asia $565 million

    • European Union $41 million

    • South/Central America and Caribbean $2 million

    • Sub-Saharan Africa  $309 thousand

  • 50 percent of Hawaii’s exports ($333 million) go to current FTA partners. 

Agriculture in Hawaii depends on Exports

  • Hawaii is the country’s 39th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $371 million in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2017 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).1

  • Top Agricultural exports (2017 Values) were:

  • other plant products

    • 2017 Value: $261 million

    • 2017 State Rank: 18

  • tree nuts

    • 2017 Value: $51 million

    • 2017 State Rank: 7

  • other livestock products

    • 2017 Value: $43 million

    • 2017 State Rank: 21

  • beef and veal

    • 2017 Value: $4 million

    • 2017 State Rank: 42

  • fruits, fresh

    • 2017 Value: $3 million

    • 2017 State Rank: 28

International Investment Creates Jobs in Hawaii

  • In 2015 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 37,200 Hawaii workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Hawaii included Japan, France and the United Kingdom.
     
  • Foreign investment in Hawaii was responsible for 7.2 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2015.

Hawaii’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

  • In 2017 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Hawaii recorded goods exports: Urban Honolulu ($393.6 million), Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina ($5.8 million).

 

[1] Estimates of state exports of agricultural products by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and goods exports by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce are based on different methodologies and are not directly comparable.