Breadcrumb

Maryland

Maryland Trade Facts

  • In 2018, Maryland exported $12.1 billion of Made-in-America goods to the world. In 2016, exports from Maryland supported an estimated 45 thousand jobs.

Exports from Maryland and Jobs

  • Maryland was the 29th largest state exporter of goods in 2018.
     
  • In 2018, Maryland goods exports were $12.1 billion, an increase of 6 percent ($719 million) from its export level in 2008.
     
  • Goods exports accounted for 2.9 percent of Maryland GDP in 2018.
     
  • Maryland goods exports in 2016 (latest year available) supported an estimated 45 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 Maryland and Jobs

  • In 2018, Maryland exported $9.7 billion of manufactured products.
     
  • Maryland exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 41 thousand jobs in 2016.
     
  • The state's largest manufacturing export category is transportation equipment, which accounted for $2.4 billion of Maryland's total goods exports in 2018.
     
  • Other top manufacturing exports are chemicals ($2.0 billion), machinery, except electrical ($1.1 billion), computer & electronic products ($1.0 billion), and other fabricated metal products ($699 million).

Exports Sustain Thousands of Maryland Businesses many of which are SMEs

  • A total of 6,235 companies exported from Maryland locations in 2016 (latest year available). Of those, 5,380 (86 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
     
  •  Small and medium-sized firms generated 31.3 percent of Maryland's total exports of goods in 2016.

Maryland Depends on World Markets

  • The state’s largest market was Canada. Maryland exported $1.7 billion in goods to Canada in 2018, representing 14 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
     
  • Canada was followed by Japan ($1.1 billion), France ($1.1 billion), Saudi Arabia ($606 million), and the Netherlands ($596 million).
     
  • Maryland’s exports (2018 value) to major world areas included:

 

2018 Value

APEC

$5.1 billion

Asia

$4.2 billion

European Union

$3.8 billion

South/Central America and Caribbean

$872 million

Sub-Saharan Africa

$309 million

 
  • 29 percent of Maryland’s exports ($3.5 billion) go to current FTA partners. 

Agriculture in Maryland depends on Exports

  • Maryland is the country’s 36th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $654 million in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2017 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).1

  • Top Agricultural exports (2017 value) were:

 

2017 Value

 2017 State Rank

other plant products

$175 million

26

soybeans

$112 million

21

broiler meat

$104 million

9

corn

$43 million

23

wheat

$43 million

23

 

International Investment Creates Jobs in Maryland

  • In 2015 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 118,300 Maryland workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Maryland included the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada.
     
  • Foreign investment in Maryland was responsible for 5.4 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2015.

Maryland’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

  • In 2017 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Maryland recorded goods exports: Philadelphia ($21.7 billion), Washington ($12.7 billion), Baltimore ($4.7 billion), Salisbury ($466.9 million), Hagerstown ($120.1 million), California-Lexington Park ($63.6 million), Cumberland ($40.2 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.