South Dakota

South Dakota Exports & Foreign Investment

 

In 2023, South Dakota exported a record $2.4 billion of goods to the world.  In 2021, exports from South Dakota supported an estimated 27 thousand jobs.

 

Exports from South Dakota and Jobs

• South Dakota was the 46^th largest state exporter of goods in 2023.
• In 2023, South Dakota goods exports were $2.4 billion, an increase of 52 percent ($817 million) from its export level in 2013 (latest data available).
• Goods exports accounted for 3.3 percent of South Dakota GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• South Dakota goods exports in 2021 (latest data available) supported an estimated 27 thousand jobs. 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 2023, South Dakota exported $2.2 billion of manufactured products.
• South Dakota exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 8 thousand jobs in 2021 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is food and kindred products, which accounted for $715 million of South Dakota's total goods exports in 2023.
• Other top manufacturing exports are chemicals ($490 million), machinery, except electrical ($287 million), beverages and tobacco products ($146 million), and transportation equipment ($130 million).

 

Exports Sustain Thousands of 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 $1.1 billion in goods to Canada in 2023, representing 44 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Mexico ($509 million), China ($147 million), Japan ($113 million), and Netherlands ($61 million).
• South Dakota’s exports to major world areas included:

 

 

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

Agriculture in South Dakota depends on Exports

• South Dakota is the country’s 12^th 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).^[1]
• Top Agricultural exports were:

 

 

International Investment Creates Jobs in South Dakota

• In 2021 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 14,500 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 3.9 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2021.

South Dakota’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2022 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in South Dakota recorded goods exports: Sioux Falls ($371.3 million), and Rapid City ($35.6 million).