Breadcrumb

South Dakota

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Would Expand Market Access

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) offers tremendous opportunities for U.S. exporters.  TPP members comprise a population of roughly 800 million and these dynamic economies generate nearly 40 percent of global GDP. The United States already has strong trade and investment ties to this region; we exported $697.8 billion in goods to all TPP markets in 2013, or about 44 percent of total U.S. exports, and are seeking through TPP to further deepen our economic relations.

South Dakota Trade Facts

  • In 2017, South Dakota exported $1.4 billion of Made-in-America goods to the world.  In 2016, exports from South Dakota supported an estimated 17 thousand jobs.

Exports from South Dakota and Jobs

  • South Dakota was the 48th largest state exporter of goods in 2017.

  • In 2017, South Dakota goods exports were $1.4 billion, an increase of 10 percent ($150 million) from its export level in 2007.

  • Goods exports accounted for 2.7 percent of South Dakota GDP in 2017.

  • South Dakota goods exports in 2016 (latest year available) supported an estimated 17 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 South Dakota and Jobs

  • In 2017, South Dakota exported $1.3 billion of manufactured products.

  • South Dakota exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 7 thousand jobs in 2016.

  • The state's largest manufacturing export category is food & kindred products, which accounted for $432 million of South Dakota's total goods exports in 2017/

  • Other top manufacturing exports are machinery, except electrical ($265 million), transportation equipment ($128 million), beverages & tobacco products ($91 million), and computer & electronic products ($88 million).

Exports Sustain Thousands of South Dakota Businesses many of which are SMEs

  • A total of 880 companies exported from South Dakota locations in 2016 (latest year available). Of those, 669 (76 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.

  •  Small and medium-sized firms generated NA percent of South Dakota's total exports of goods in 2015.

South Dakota Depends on World Markets

  • The state’s largest market was Canada. South Dakota exported $536 million in goods to Canada in 2017, representing 39 percent of the state’s total goods exports.

  • Canada was followed by Mexico ($345 million), Japan ($80 million), China ($64 million), and Belgium ($38 million).

  • South Dakota’s exports (2017 value) to major world areas included:

 

2017 Value

APEC

$1.1 billion

Asia

$200 million

European Union

$118 million

South/Central America and Caribbean

$36 million

Sub-Saharan Africa

$9 million

  • 71 percent of South Dakota’s exports ($969 million) go to current FTA partners.  

Agriculture in South Dakota depends on Exports

  • South Dakota is the country’s 10th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $4.0 billion in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2016 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).1

  • Top Agricultural exports (2016 value) were:

 

2016 Value

 2016 State Rank

soybeans

$1.4 billion

7

corn

$490 million

6

feeds and other feed grains

$397 million

7

wheat

$253 million

7

soybean meal

$244 million

7

 

International Investment Creates Jobs in South Dakota

  • In 2015 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 12,600 South Dakota workers. Major sources of foreign investment in South Dakota included Canada, the United Kingdom and France. 

  • Foreign investment in South Dakota was responsible for 3.5 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2015.

South Dakota’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

  • In 2016 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in South Dakota recorded goods exports: Sioux City ($1.3 billion), Sioux Falls ($334 million), Rapid City ($13 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.