That dollar amount results from an 8.3% increase from $11.6 billion four years earlier in 2018.
Year over year, the overall value of Kansan exported goods accelerated by 20.5% compared to $10.4 billion for 2020.
Looking ahead to 2022, the value of Kansas’ exports from January to August 2022 totaled $9.33 billion. The dollar sum of exports from Kansas is projected to be an annualized $14 billion increasing by 11.7% upturn from the $12.54 billion for 2021.
Kansas ranks among America’s 35 biggest exporters by state behind front- behind front-runners including Texas, California, New York state and Louisiana. The value of Kansas’ exports equals 0.7% of the United States’ overall exported products for 2021.
Based on statistics from the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Kansas’ exported products represent 6.5% of the state’s total economic output or real Gross Domestic Product in 2021 ($192.3 billion in current dollars based on BEA statistics). That percentage compares with 6% one year earlier.
Given Kansas’ population of 2.935 million people, its total $12.54 billion in 2021 exports translates to roughly $4,300 for every resident in the Sunflower State. That dollar metric exceeds the average $3,500 per capita in 2020.
Kansas’ unemployment rate was 2.6% in September 2022, down from 3.7% at March 2021 per YCharts.
Kansas’ Top 10 Exports
The following export products represent the highest dollar value in Kansas global shipments during 2021. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Kansas.
Figures are shown at the more granular six-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, for more precise product identification.
- Aircraft, aircraft parts including engines: US$2.1 billion (16.7% of Kansas’ exports)
- Beef (boneless, fresh/chilled): $1.1 billion (8.6%)
- Soya beans: $607.3 million (4.8%)
- Corn: $583.7 million (4.7%)
- Wheat, meslin: $500.5 million (4%)
- Beef (boneless, frozen): $472.9 million (3.8%)
- Grain sorghum: $379.9 million (3%)
- Ethyl alcohol, other denatured spirits: $232.9 million (1.9%)
- Dog and cat food for retail sale: $214.6 million (1.7%)
- Modems, similar reception/transmission devices: $155.8 million (1.2%)
Kansas’ top 10 exports accounted for half (50.4%) of the overall value of the state’s global shipments.
Denatured spirits including ethyl alcohol posted the strongest growth among Kansas’ top 10 export categories, up by 175.6% from 2020 to 2021.
In second place for improving export sales was corn which rose 106.6%. Grain sorghum excluding seed recorded a 94% expansion in international sales.
The lone year-over-year decliner among Kansas’ top 10 export products was wheat and meslin via a -1% slowdown.
More Key Facts about Kansas’ International Trade
Kansas generated an overall $405.1 million trade surplus exporting and importing products during 2021. That dollar amount reverses an -$84,000 deficit for 2020.
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 Kansas’ top 10 import products highlighting the state’s highest spending on foreign-made goods in 2021.
- Miscellaneous aircraft parts: $436.8 million (3.6% of Kansas’ imports)
- Turbo-jets: $322.5 million (32.7%)
- Modems, similar reception/transmission devices: $317.8 million (2.6%)
- Radio navigational apparatus: $276.7 million (2.3%)
- Mechanical front-end shovel loaders: $257.2 million (2.1%)
- Wheat gluten: $158.1 million (1.3%)
- Taps, cocks, valves and similar appliances: $156.7 million (1.3%)
- Navigational instruments: $144.1 million (1.3%)
- Tractors: $142.4 million (1.2%)
- Base metal mountings: $138.7 million (1.1%)
Kansas has negative net exports in the international trade of aircraft parts, turbo-jets and radio navigational aids. In turn, these cashflows indicate Kansas’ competitive advantages under these product categories.
Kansas’ Major Trade Partners
The following list shows the top 10 customers that purchased about three-quarters (74.8%) worth of the total value of products exported from Kansas during 2021.
- Mexico: $2.76 billion (22% of Kansas’ exports)
- Canada: $2.05 billion (16.3%)
- China: $1.12 billion (9%)
- Japan: $1.07 billion (8.5%)
- South Korea: $577.6 million (4.6%)
- Germany: $479.4 million (3.8%)
- United Kingdom: $373.6 million (3%)
- Singapore: $320.5 million (2.6%)
- Australia: $313.7 million (2.5%)
- Taiwan: $312.2 million (2.5%)
Kansas’ top trade partners in North America (Canada and Mexico) bought almost two-fifths (38.3%) of the overall value of exported goods from the Sunflower State.
In comparison, major trade partners in Asia (mainland China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan) imported 27.2% of Kansan export sales for 2021.
Kansasan Export Companies
Six of Kansas-based corporations rank among Fortune 1000 Companies, a list that showcases America’s largest businesses. Selected examples are listed below.
- Ferrellgas Partners (propane)
- Lansing Trade Group (grains, commodities trading, ethanol)
- Seaboard Corp (agribusiness, electrical power, transportation)
- Spirit AeroSystems Holdings (aerospace/defense industry goods)
- Westar Energy (electricity)
- YRC Worldwide (freight shipping)
Shown within brackets for each company is a summary of the products or services which each business sells, some of which are related to international trade.
Kansas’ capital is Topeka, a city nicknamed “T-Town” and “Top City”.
See also North Dakota’s Top 10 Exports, Montana’s Top 10 Exports, Wisconsin’s Top 10 Exports, Arizona’s Top 10 Exports and Vermont’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Department of Numbers, Kansas GDP (dollars shown in real terms). Accessed on October 28, 2022
FlagPictures.org, Flags of US States. Accessed on October 28, 2022
Forbes, 2018 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 28, 2022
GeoLounge, Fortune 1000 Companies List for 2018 , Fortune 1000 by State and Place. Accessed on October 28, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 28, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 28, 2022
State Symbols USA, State Nicknames. Accessed on October 28, 2022
United States Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Kansas. Accessed on October 28, 2022
USA Trade Online, Official Source of Trade Statistics. Accessed on October 28, 2022
Wikipedia, Kansas. Accessed on October 28, 2022
Wikipedia, List of Kansas Companies. Accessed on October 28, 2022
Wikipedia, List of U.S. states and territories by GDP. Accessed on October 28, 2022
World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for Topeka, United States. Accessed on October 28, 2022
YCharts, Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Report. Accessed on October 28, 2022
