South Dakota

South Dakota Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2024, South Dakota exported $2.1 billion of goods to the world. In 2022, exports from South Dakota supported an estimated 27 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from South Dakota and Jobs

• South Dakota was the 47th largest state exporter of goods in 2024.
• In 2024, South Dakota goods exports were $2.1 billion, an increase of 34 percent ($535 million) from its export level in 2014.
• Goods exports accounted for 3.3 percent of South Dakota GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• South Dakota goods exports in 2022 supported an estimated 27 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 South Dakota and Jobs

• In 2024, South Dakota exported $1.9 billion of manufactured products.
• South Dakota exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 9,000 jobs in 2022 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is food & kindred products, which accounted for $603 million of South Dakota's total goods exports in 2024.
• Other top manufacturing exports are chemicals ($407 million), machinery, except electrical ($250 million), beverages & tobacco products ($124 million), and transportation equipment ($123 million).

Exports Sustain South Dakota Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 961 companies exported from South Dakota locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 755 (79 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated (D) percent of South Dakota's total exports of goods in 2022.

South Dakota Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. South Dakota exported $955 million in goods to Canada in 2024, representing 45 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Mexico ($419 million), China ($153 million), Japan ($85 million), and Netherlands ($45 million).
• South Dakota’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 71 percent of South Dakota’s goods exports ($1.5 billion) in 2024 went to current FTA partners.  

Agriculture in South Dakota depends on Exports

• South Dakota is the country’s 12th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $5.4 billion in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2022 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).
• Top Agricultural exports were:

	2022 Value	2022 State Rank
soybeans	$1.6 billion	8
corn	$898 million	6
feeds and other feed grains	$587 million	7
beef and veal	$452 million	8
wheat	$340 million	8

International Investment Creates Jobs in South Dakota

• In 2022 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 14,100 South Dakota workers. Major sources of foreign investment in South Dakota included Canada, France and the United Kingdom.
• Foreign investment in South Dakota was responsible for 3.7 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2022.

South Dakota’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting
In 2023 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in South Dakota recorded goods exports: Sioux City ($1.5 billion), Rapid City ($37 million), and Sioux Falls ($510.9 million).

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