That dollar amount reflects a 2.4% year-over-year upturn from $3.1 billion in 2024.
Over a 4-year timeline, the overall value of Maine’s exports declined by -8% compared to $3.46 billion during 2022.
Maine ranks 47th near the bottom of America’s 50 biggest exporters by state, far behind front-runners including Texas, California, New York state, Louisiana, and Illinois.
The value of Maine’s exports equals a tiny 0.1% of the United States’ overall exported products ($2.178 trillion).
Maine’s exported products represent 4% of the state’s total economic output or Gross Domestic Product in 2025 ($79.8 billion).
The most valuable products shipped from Maine are civilian aircraft or aircraft engines or other aircraft parts, fresh or chilled lobsters, then natural gas in gaseous state. Collectively, those leading product categories generated over one-third (35.6%) of Maine’s overall export sales during 2025..
Given Maine’s population of 1.415 million people, its total US$3.2 billion in 2025 exports translates to about $2,250 for every resident in the Pine Tree State. That dollar metric exceeds the average $2,200 per capita one year earlier for 2024.
Maine’s unemployment rate was 3.2% at December 31, 2025, down from the 3.4% jobless rate one year earlier per YCharts.
Maine’s Top 10 Exports
The following export products represent the highest dollar value in Maine global shipments during 2025. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Maine.
Figures are shown at the more granular six-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, for more precise product identification.
- Civilian aircraft, full or engines, parts: US$647.7 million (20.3% of total Maine exports)
- Fresh/chilled lobsters: $270.3 million (8.5%)
- Natural gas (gaseous state): $215.4 million (6.8%)
- Diagnostic or laboratory reagents: $143.4 million (4.5%)
- Electronic integrated circuits: $130 million (4.1%)
- Fir and spruce rough wood: $74.1 million (2.3%)
- Plastics-coated paper, paperboard: $62.2 million (2%)
- Fresh/chilled Atlantic or Danube salmon: $60.8 million (1.9%)
- Instruments using optical radiations: $52.1 million (1.6%)
- Writing or printing paper, paperboard: $49.5 million (1.6%)
Maine’s top 10 export product categories generated over half (53.5%) of the overall value of the state’s global shipments.
The fastest grower among Maine’s leading export product categories is civilian aircraft either fully assembled or aircraft engines or other aircraft parts via an 83.2% advance from 2024.
In second place were Maine’s exports of natural gas in gaseous state (up 82.1%).
The remaining increase was the 0.2% increase for fir and spruce rough wood.
The severest product decliners from 2024 to 2025 were for miscellaneous electronic integrated circuits (down -33.5%), diagnostic or laboratory reagents (down -28.9%) and Maine’s shipments of instruments using optical radiations (down -23.1%).
More Key Facts about Maine’s International Trade
Maine incurred an overall -US$2.82 billion deficit exporting and importing products during 2025. That dollar amount reflects a -22.4% year-over-year decrease from -$3.64 billion in red ink for 2024
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.
In total, importers in Maine spent $6 billion on goods supplied by providers outside the United States.
Below are Maine’s top 10 import products highlighting the state’s highest spending on foreign-sourced goods in 2025.
- Light petroleum oils excluding biodiesel: $1.1 billion (17.8% of total Maine imports)
- Refined petroleum oils excluding biodiesel: $1 billion (17%)
- Electrical energy: $262.9 million (4.4%)
- Chemical woodpulp sulfite (coniferous): $139 million (2.3%)
- Fresh/chilled lobsters: $131.8 million (2.2%)
- Sawn coniferous wood: $127.2 million (2.1%)
- Turbo-jets, parts: $104.6 million (1.7%)
- Liquefied propane: $99.2 million (1.7%)
- Large aircraft: $90 million (1.5%)
- Fresh/chilled Atlantic or Danube salmon: $70.2 million (1.2%)
Historically Maine has negative net exports in the international trade of petroleum products and electrical energy–importing much of its electrical power from Canada. In turn, these cashflows indicate Maine’s competitive disadvantages under those product categories.
Maine’s Top Trading Partners
The following list shows the top 10 customers that purchased over two-thirds (69.4%) worth of the total value of products exported from Maine during 2025.
- Canada: $1.3 billion (41.1% of total Maine exports)
- Malaysia: $120.1 million (3.8%)
- Netherlands: $115 million (3.6%)
- Japan: $113.7 million (3.6%)
- United Arab Emirates: $109 million (3.4%)
- mainland China: $104.4 million (3.3%)
- Pakistan: $101.4 million (3.2%)
- Switzerland: $93.2 million (2.9%)
- Mexico: $75.3 million (2.4%)
- South Korea: $69.1 million (2.2%)
Maine’s top trade partners in North America–mostly Canada but also Mexico–bought over two-fifths (43.5%) of the overall value of exported goods from the Pine Tree State.
In contrast, leading importers in Asia (Malaysia, Japan, mainland China, Pakistan and South Korea) accounted for 16% of Maine’s export sales in 2025.
Leading customers in Europe (Netherlands and Switzerland) paid for 6.5% of Maine total exports.
Maine Export Companies
Not one Maine-based corporation ranks among Fortune 1000 Companies, a list that showcases America’s largest businesses.
According to Zippia, below are examples of relatively large companies based in Maine.
- LL Bean (clothing, shoes, outdoor gear)
- IDEXX Laboratories (animal health diagnostic goods, services)
- Ahlstrom-Munksjö (fiber-based source materials)
- WEX Inc. (payment processing, info technology)
- Cherryfield Foods (canned fruits, vegetables)
Shown within brackets for each company is a summary of the international trade-related products or services which each business sells.
Maine’s capital is Augusta, a city named after Augusta Dearborn who was the daughter of America’s Revolutionary War soldier and statesman Henry Dearborn.
See also Florida’s Top 10 Exports, California’s Top 10 Exports, Top 10 Exports from Texas and Hawaii’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
FlagPictures.org, Flags of US States. Accessed on March 27, 2026
Forbes, 2020 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on March 27, 2026
GeoLounge, Fortune 1000 Companies List for 2020 , Fortune 1000 by State and Place. Accessed on March 27, 2026
IBIS World, State Economic Profile (including GDP). Accessed on March 27, 2026
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on March 27, 2026
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on March 27, 2026
State Symbols USA, State Nicknames. Accessed on March 27, 2026
United States Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Maine. Accessed on March 27, 2026
USA Trade Online, Official Source of Trade Statistics. Accessed on March 27, 2026
Wikipedia, Category:Companies based in Maine. Accessed on March 27, 2026
Wikipedia, List of U.S. states and territories by GDP. Accessed on March 27, 2026
Wikipedia, Maine. Accessed on March 27, 2026
YCharts, Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Report. Accessed on March 27, 2026
Zippia, These are the 100 largest companies in Maine. Accessed on March 27, 2026