• Home

    • Oklahoma

    Oklahoma Trade Facts

    • In 2018, Oklahoma exported $6.1 billion of Made-in-America goods to the world. In 2016, exports from Oklahoma supported an estimated 28 thousand jobs.

    Exports from Oklahoma and Jobs

    • Oklahoma was the 38th largest state exporter of goods in 2018.
       
    • In 2018, Oklahoma goods exports were $6.1 billion, an increase of 20 percent ($1.0 billion) from its export level in 2008.
       
    • Goods exports accounted for 3.1 percent of Oklahoma GDP in 2018.
       
    • Oklahoma goods exports in 2016 (latest year available) supported an estimated 28 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 Oklahoma and Jobs

    • In 2018, Oklahoma exported $5.6 billion of manufactured products.
       
    • Oklahoma exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 24 thousand jobs in 2016.
       
    • The state's largest manufacturing export category is machinery, except electrical, which accounted for $1.1 billion of Oklahoma's total goods exports in 2018.
       
    • Other top manufacturing exports are transportation equipment ($1.1 billion), computer & electronic products ($894 million), chemicals ($655 million), and other fabricated metal products ($513 million).

    Exports Sustain Thousands of Oklahoma Businesses many of which are SMEs

    • A total of 2,993 companies exported from Oklahoma locations in 2016 (latest year available). Of those, 2,509 (84 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
       
    • Small and medium-sized firms generated 26.0 percent of Oklahoma's total exports of goods in 2016.

    Oklahoma Depends on World Markets

    • The state’s largest market was Canada. Oklahoma exported $1.6 billion in goods to Canada in 2018, representing 27 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
       
    • Canada was followed by Mexico ($783 million), Germany ($612 million), Japan ($296 million), and Netherlands ($246 million).
       

    • Oklahoma’s exports (2018 value) to major world areas included:

     

    2018 Value

    APEC

    $3.8 billion

    Asia

    $1.6 billion

    European Union

    $1.3 billion

    South/Central America and Caribbean

    $356 million

    Sub-Saharan Africa

    $97 million
     
    • 51 percent of Oklahoma’s exports ($3.1 billion) go to current FTA partners. 

    Agriculture in Oklahoma depends on Exports

    • Oklahoma is the country’s 25th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $1.8 billion 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

    beef and veal

    $351 million

    6

    wheat

    $286 million

    7

    pork

    $282 million

    6

    cotton

    $256 million

    6

    other plant products

    $139 million

    30
     

    International Investment Creates Jobs in Oklahoma

    • In 2015 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 51,800 Oklahoma workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Oklahoma included the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
       
    • Foreign investment in Oklahoma was responsible for 3.8 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2015.

    Oklahoma’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

    • In 2017 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Oklahoma recorded goods exports: Tulsa ($2.6 billion), Oklahoma City ($1.3 billion), Fort Smith ($421 million), Enid ($53.7 million), Lawton ($21 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.