Maine

Maine Exports & Foreign Investment

 

In 2023, Maine exported not a record $3.0 billion of goods to the world.  In 2021, exports from Maine supported an estimated 14 thousand jobs.

 

Exports from Maine and Jobs

• Maine was the 45^th largest state exporter of goods in 2023.
• In 2023, Maine goods exports were $3.0 billion, an increase of 10 percent ($264 million) from its export level in 2013 (latest data available).
• Goods exports accounted for 3.2 percent of Maine GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• Maine goods exports in 2021 (latest data available) supported an estimated 14 thousand jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from Maine and Jobs

• In 2023, Maine exported $2.0 billion of manufactured products.
• Maine exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 7 thousand jobs in 2021 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is transportation equipment, which accounted for $481 million of Maine's total goods exports in 2023.
• Other top manufacturing exports are computer and electronic products ($372 million), paper ($329 million), chemicals ($213 million), and machinery, except electrical ($168 million).

 

Exports Sustain Thousands of Maine Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 1,803 companies exported from Maine locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 1,519 (84 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
•  Small and medium-sized firms generated 55.4 percent of Maine's total exports of goods in 2022.

 

Maine Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. Maine exported $1.4 billion in goods to Canada in 2023, representing 48 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Malaysia ($132 million), China ($123 million), Mexico ($100 million), and Japan ($91 million).
• Maine’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 59 percent of Maine’s goods exports ($1.7 billion) in 2023 went to current FTA partners. 

Agriculture in Maine depends on Exports

• Maine is the country’s 42^nd largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $329 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 Maine

• In 2021 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 37,300 Maine workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Maine included Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany.
• Foreign investment in Maine was responsible for 7.1 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2021.

Maine’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2022 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Maine recorded goods exports: Portland-South Portland ($1.4 billion), Bangor ($206.8 million), and Lewiston-Auburn ($156.7 million).