Louisiana

Louisiana Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2025, Louisiana exported $93.4 billion of goods to the world. In 2023, exports from Louisiana supported an estimated 183 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from Louisiana and Jobs

• Louisiana was the 4th largest state exporter of goods in 2025.
• In 2025, Louisiana goods exports were $93.4 billion, an increase of 92 percent ($45 billion) from its export level in 2015.
• Louisiana goods exports in 2023 supported an estimated 183 thousand jobs (latest data available). Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from Louisiana and Jobs

• In 2025, Louisiana exported $42.4 billion of manufactured products.
• Louisiana exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 121 thousand jobs in 2023 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is petroleum & coal products, which accounted for $22.6 billion of Louisiana total goods exports in 2025.
• Other top manufacturing exports are chemicals ($10.7 billion), food & kindred products ($5.0 billion), machinery, except electrical ($929 million), and wood products ($615 million).

Exports Sustain Thousands of Louisiana Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 3,508 companies exported from Louisiana locations in 2023 (latest data available). Of those, 2,971 (85 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 38.9 percent of Louisiana total exports of goods in 2023.

Louisiana's Largest Export Markets

• The state’s largest export market was Netherlands. Louisiana exported $6.7 billion in goods to the Netherlands in 2025, representing 7 percent of the state’s the total goods exports.
• The Netherlands was followed by Mexico ($5.7 billion), Brazil ($4.9 billion), the United Kingdom ($4.7 billion), and Colombia ($4.5 billion).
• Louisiana goods exports to major world areas included:

• 30 percent of Louisiana goods exports ($28.4 billion) in 2025 went to current FTA partners. 

Louisiana's Top Agricultural Exports

• Louisiana is the country’s 26th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $2.0 billion in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2024 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture). 1
• Top agricultural exports were:

	2024 Value	2024 State Rank
other plant products	$661 million	8
rice	$337 million	3
soybeans	$291 million	18
other livestock products	$125 million	10
corn	$108 million	18

International Investment Creates Jobs in Louisiana

• In 2023 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed an estimated 83 thousand workers in Louisiana. Major sources of foreign investment in Louisiana included the United Kingdom, Canada, and France.

Louisiana’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

• In 2024 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Louisiana recorded goods exports: New Orleans-Metairie ($35.5 billion), Lake Charles ($24.1 billion), Baton Rouge ($10.5 billion), Slidell-Mandeville-Covington ($7.8 billion), Lafayette ($947.3 million), Monroe ($947.2 million), Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux ($585.6 million), Shreveport-Bossier City ($561.6 million), Hammond ($130.9 million), and Alexandria ($47.6 million).