Hawaii

Hawaii Exports & Foreign Investment

 

In 2023, Hawaii exported not a record $434 million of goods to the world.  In 2021, exports from Hawaii supported an estimated 1 thousand jobs.

 

Exports from Hawaii and Jobs

• Hawaii was the 50^th largest state exporter of goods in 2023.
• In 2023, Hawaii goods exports were $434 million, a decrease of 5 percent ($29 million) from its export level in 2013 (latest data available).
• Goods exports accounted for .5 percent of Hawaii GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• Hawaii goods exports in 2021 (latest data available) supported an estimated 1 thousand jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from Hawaii and Jobs

• In 2023, Hawaii exported $425 million of manufactured products.
• Hawaii exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 7 hundred jobs in 2021 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is transportation equipment, which accounted for $226 million of Hawaii's total goods exports in 2023.
• Other top manufacturing exports are petroleum and coal products ($76 million), computer and electronic products ($29 million), food and kindred products ($21 million), and machinery, except electrical ($15 million).

 

Exports Sustain Thousands of Hawaii Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 677 companies exported from Hawaii locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 586 (87 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
•  Small and medium-sized firms generated 56.9 percent of Hawaii's total exports of goods in 2022.

 

Hawaii Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Japan. Hawaii exported $128 million in goods to Japan in 2023, representing 22 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Japan was followed by Australia ($71 million), Philippines ($71 million), Hong Kong ($55 million), and India ($30 million).
• Hawaii’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 23 percent of Hawaii’s goods exports ($133 million) in 2023 went to current FTA partners. 

Agriculture in Hawaii depends on Exports

• Hawaii is the country’s 41^st largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $350 million in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2022 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).^[1]
• Top Agricultural exports were:

 

 

International Investment Creates Jobs in Hawaii

• In 2021 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 40,300 Hawaii workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Hawaii included Japan, France and the United Kingdom.
• Foreign investment in Hawaii was responsible for 8.5 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2021.

Hawaii’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2022 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Hawaii recorded goods exports: Urban Honolulu ($258.8 million), and Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina ($5.1 million).