That dollar amount reflects a -5.5% reduction from $16.2 billion four years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the overall value of goods exported from Connecticut rose by 5.5% compared to $14.54 billion for 2021.
Connecticut ranks among America’s 35 most lucrative exporters by state behind front-runners including Texas, California, Louisiana, New York State and Illinois. The value of Connecticut’s exports equals 0.7% of the United States’ overall exported products for 2022.
Based on statistics from the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Connecticut’s exported products represent 6.1% of the state’s total economic output or real Gross Domestic Product in 2022 ($252.5 billion).
Given Connecticut’s population of 3.626 million people, its total $15.34 billion in 2022 exports translates to roughly $4,200 for every resident in the Constitution State. That dollar metric represents an increase from the average $4,000 per capita for 2021.
Connecticut’s unemployment rate was 4% at the end of March 2023, down from the state’s 4.6% jobless rate per YCharts.
Connecticut’s Top 10 Exports
The following export products represent the highest dollar value in Connecticut global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Connecticut.
Figures are shown at the more granular six-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, for more precise product identification.
- Civilian aircraft, parts including engines, parts: US$4.4 billion (28.8% of Connecticut’s exports)
- Parts for semiconductor manufacturing machines: $634.8 million (4.1%)
- Crude petroleum oils: $216.3 million (1.4%)
- Turbo-jet parts: $168.2 million (1.1%)
- Iron scrap: $167.3 million (1.1%)
- Electric apparatus controls: $153.4 million (1%)
- Parts of miscellaneous machinery: $145.8 million (1%)
- Miscellaneous medications in dosage for retail: $143.2 million (0.9%)
- Miscellaneous aircraft parts: $140.9 million (0.9%)
- Disodium carbonate: $132.9 million (0.9%)
Connecticut’s top 10 exports totaled 41.3% of the overall value of the state’s global shipments.
Electric apparatus controls represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 43.2% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales were parts of miscellaneous machinery which appreciated 32.1%.
Connecticut’s shipments of civilian aircraft including engines or other parts posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 5.2%.
There was a trio of year-over-year double-digit decliners namely miscellaneous medications packaged for retail sale (down -40.7% from 2021), turbo-jet and turbo-propeller parts (down -27.8%), then the inorganic chemical disodium carbonate (down -16.3%).
More Key Facts about Connecticut’s International Trade
Connecticut incurred a -$6 billion deficit exporting and importing products during 2022. That dollar amount reflects a -3.1% drop from -$6.2 billion in red ink for 2021.
Another way of saying surplus or deficit is positive or negative net exports. In a nutshell, the term “net exports” quantifies the amount by which foreign spending on a state’s goods or services exceeds or lags that same state’s spending on foreign goods or services.
Below are Connecticut’s top 10 import products highlighting the state’s highest spending on foreign-made goods in 2022.
- Light petroleum oils: US$1.38 billion (6.5% of Connecticut’s imports)
- Silver, unwrought: $1.37 billion (6.4%)
- Large aircraft: $973.6 million (4.6%)
- Miscellaneous petroleum oils neither crude nor biodiesel: $642.2 million (3%)
- Medium-size aircraft: $424.7 million (2%)
- Turbo-jet parts: $305.7 million (1.4%)
- Clay-coated paper, paperboard: $244.1 million (1.1%)
- Gold (unwrought): $227.3 million (1.1%)
- Parts, accessories for semiconductor-making machinery: $208.9 million (1%)
- Miscellaneous fans: $193.8 million (0.9%)
Connecticut has highly negative net exports in the international trade of petroleum oils, unrefined silver and aircraft. In turn, these cashflows indicate Connecticut’s competitive advantages under those product categories.
Connecticut’s Major Trade Partners
The following list shows the top 10 customers that purchased almost three-quarters (72.3%) worth of the total value of products exported from Connecticut during 2022.
- Germany: US$2.1 billion (13.7% of Connecticut’s total exports)
- Canada: $2.05 billion (13.4%)
- United Kingdom: $1.4 billion (8.9%)
- Mexico: $1.14 billion (7.4%)
- France: $1.1 billion (7.2%)
- Netherlands: $1.04 billion (6.7%)
- mainland China: $885.5 million (5.8%)
- Japan: $476.9 million (3.1%)
- South Korea: $467.1 million (3%)
- Singapore: $466.8 million (3%)
Connecticut’s top trade partners in Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands) bought 36.5% of the overall value of exported goods from the Constitution State.
In contrast, 20.8% of Connecticut’s exported goods went to North American customers in Canada and Mexico.
Another 15% worth was delivered to major customer in Asia (mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore).
Connecticuter Export Companies
Twenty-eight of Connecticut-based corporations rank among Fortune 1000 Companies, a list that showcases America’s largest businesses. Selected examples are listed below.
- Amphenol Corp (electronics, fiber optic goods, cables)
- Cenveo (print-related products)
- Crane Co. (industrial products, vending machines)
- Harman International Industries (industrial/technical items)
- Hubbell Inc. (electrical products, electronics, lighting)
- Pitney Bowes (postage machinery, global technologies)
- Praxair (industrial gases)
- Silgan Holdings (consumer goods packaging)
- Terex Corp (cranes, work platforms)
- XPO Logistics (freight brokerage, transportation, e-fulfillment services)
Shown within brackets for each company is a summary of the international trade-related products or services which each business sells.
Connecticut’s capital is Hartford, a city nicknamed “The Insurance Capital of the World” and “New England’s Rising Star”.
See also Wyoming’s Top 10 Exports, South Dakota’s Top 10 Exports, West Virginia’s Top 10 Exports, Colorado’s Top 10 Exports and New Hampshire’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Department of Numbers, Connecticut GDP (dollars shown in real terms). Accessed on May 8, 2023
FlagPictures.org, Flags of US States. Accessed on May 8, 2023
Forbes, Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 8, 2023
GeoLounge, Fortune 1000 Companies List for 2019 , Fortune 1000 by State and Place. Accessed on May 8, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 8, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 8, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 8, 2023
State Symbols USA, State Nicknames. Accessed on May 8, 2023
Statista, Real gross domestic product of Connecticut . Accessed on May 8, 2023
United States Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Connecticut. Accessed on May 8, 2023
USA Trade Online, Official Source of Trade Statistics. Accessed on May 8, 2023
Wikipedia, Connecticut. Accessed on May 8, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Connecticut Companies. Accessed on May 8, 2023
Wikipedia, List of U.S. states and territories by GDP. Accessed on May 8, 2023
World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for Hartford, United States. Accessed on May 8, 2023
YCharts, Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Report. Accessed on May 8, 2023