Massachusetts Trade Facts
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In 2018, Massachusetts exported $27.2 billion of Made-in-America goods to the world. In 2016, exports from Massachusetts supported an estimated 113 thousand jobs.
Exports from Massachusetts and Jobs
- Massachusetts was the 18th largest state exporter of goods in 2018.
- In 2018, Massachusetts goods exports were $27.2 billion, a decrease of 4 percent ($1.2 billion) from its export level in 2008.
- Goods exports accounted for 4.8 percent of Massachusetts GDP in 2018.
- Massachusetts goods exports in 2016 (latest year available) supported an estimated 113 thousand jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.
Made-in-America Manufacturing Exports from Massachusetts and Jobs
- In 2018, Massachusetts exported $25.5 billion of manufactured products.
- Massachusetts exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 101 thousand jobs in 2016.
- The state's largest manufacturing export category is computer & electronic products, which accounted for $7.7 billion of Massachusetts's total goods exports in 2018.
- Other top manufacturing exports are machinery, except electrical ($4.1 billion), chemicals ($3.1 billion), miscellaneous manufactured commodities ($3.1 billion), and primary metal manufacturing ($1.9 billion).
Exports Sustain Thousands of Massachusetts Businesses many of which are SMEs
- A total of 10,085 companies exported from Massachusetts locations in 2016 (latest year available). Of those, 8,967 (89 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
- Small and medium-sized firms generated 35.9 percent of Massachusetts's total exports of goods in 2016.
Massachusetts Depends on World Markets
- The state’s largest market was Canada. Massachusetts exported $3.0 billion in goods to Canada in 2018, representing 11 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
- Canada was followed by China ($2.6 billion), Mexico ($2.5 billion), Germany ($2.0 billion), and Japan ($1.5 billion).
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Massachusetts’s exports (2018 value) to major world areas included:
|
|
2018 Value |
|
APEC |
$15.3 billion |
|
Asia |
$10.5 billion |
|
European Union |
$7.8 billion |
|
South/Central America and Caribbean |
$853 million |
|
Sub-Saharan Africa |
$115 million |
- 32 percent of Massachusetts’s exports ($8.6 billion) go to current FTA partners.
Agriculture in Massachusetts depends on Exports
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Massachusetts is the country’s 45th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $171 million in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2017 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).1
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Top Agricultural exports (2017 value) were:
|
|
2017 Value |
2017 State Rank |
|
other plant products |
$112 million |
33 |
|
other livestock products |
$19 million |
41 |
|
fruits, fresh |
$15 million |
15 |
|
fruits, processed |
$13 million |
15 |
|
dairy products |
$6 million |
39 |
International Investment Creates Jobs in Massachusetts
- In 2015 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 213,700 Massachusetts workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Massachusetts included the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France.
- Foreign investment in Massachusetts was responsible for 6.9 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2015.
Massachusetts’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting
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In 2017 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Massachusetts recorded goods exports: Boston ($23.1 billion), Worcester ($2.9 billion), Springfield ($785 million), Pittsfield ($232.9 million), Barnstable Town ($106.1 million).
1Estimates 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.
