That dollar amount reflects a 3.1% year-over-year upturn from $2.97 billion in 2023.
Over a 4-year timeline, the overall value of Maine’s exports retreated by -1.6% compared to $3.11 billion during 2021.
Maine ranks 43rd 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.
Maine’s exported products represent 3.1% of the state’s total economic output or Gross Domestic Product in 2024 ($98.6 billion). That percentage is lower than the 4.5% share for 2023.
The most valuable products shipped from Maine are civilian aircraft including engines or other aircraft parts, fresh or chilled lobsters, then diagnostic or laboratory reagents. Collectively, those leading product categories generated over one-quarter (28%) of Maine’s overall export sales during 2024..
Given Maine’s population of 1.41 million people, its total $3.1 billion in 2024 exports translates to about $2,200 for every resident in the Pine Tree State. That dollar metric exceeds the average $2,100 per capita one year earlier for 2023.
Maine’s unemployment rate was 3.5% in March 2025, up from the 2.8% 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 2024. 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 including engines, parts: US$353.1 million (11.5% of total Maine exports)
- Fresh/chilled lobsters: $302.4 million (9.9%)
- Diagnostic or laboratory reagents: $201.6 million (6.6%)
- Miscellaneous electronic integrated circuits: $195.4 million (6.4%)
- Natural gas (gaseous state): $108.3 million (3.5%)
- Chemical woodpulp, soda: $86.2 million (2.8%)
- Fresh/chilled Atlantic or Danube salmon: $77.8 million (2.5%)
- Plastics-coated paper, paperboard: $73.5 million (2.4%)
- Instruments using optical radiations: $67.8 million (2.2%)
- Fir and spruce rough wood: $66.1 million (2.2%)
Maine’s top 10 export product categories generated half (50%) of the overall value of the state’s global shipments.
The fastest grower among Maine’s leading export product categories is chemical woodpulp including soda via an 111.5% advance from 2023.
In second place were Maine’s exports of instruments using optical radiations (up 42.5%).
Other strong increases were the 40.6% improvement for exported fresh and chilled Atlantic or Danube salmon (up 40.6%), and the 38.5% boost for exports of diagnostic or laboratory reagents.
The severest product decliners from 2023 to 2024 were for natural gas in gaseous state (down -39.2%) and Maine’s shipments of fir and spuce rough wood (down -17.4%).
More Key Facts about Maine’s International Trade
Maine incurred an overall -US$3.67 billion deficit exporting and importing products during 2024. That dollar amount reflects a -14.5% year-over-year decrease from -$4.3 billion in red ink for 2023.
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 $6.73 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 2024.
- Light petroleum oils excluding biodiesel: $1.5 billion (22.5% of total Maine imports)
- Refined petroleum oils excluding biodiesel: $1.1 billion (16.7%)
- Electrical energy: $231.1 million (3.4%)
- Chemical woodpulp sulfite (coniferous): $139.5 million (2.1%)
- Sawn coniferous wood: $136.8 million (2%)
- Fresh/chilled lobsters: $125.7 million (1.9%)
- Liquefied Propane: $112.3 million (1.7%)
- Atlantic or Danube fresh/chilled salmon: $91.3 million (1.4%)
- Turbo-jets, parts: $91.1 million (1.4%)
- Petroleum bitumen: $77.9 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 three-quarters (75.7%) worth of the total value of products exported from Maine during 2024.
- Canada: $1.3 billion (42.2% of total Maine exports)
- Japan: $163.9 million (5.4%)
- Malaysia: $156 million (5.1%)
- Netherlands: $155.5 million (5.1%)
- Germany: $145.7 million (4.8%)
- mainland China: $137.9 million (4.5%)
- Mexico: $82.4 million (2.7%)
- South Korea: $71 million (2.3%)
- Italy: $62.8 million (2.1%)
- United Kingdom: $52.7 million (1.7%)
Maine’s top trade partners in North America–mostly Canada but also Mexico–bought over four-fifths(44.8%) of the overall value of exported goods from the Pine Tree State.
In contrast, leading importers in Asia (Japan, Malaysia, mainland China and South Korea) accounted for 17.3% of Maine’s export sales in 2024.
Leading customers in Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Italy and the UK) paid for 13.9% 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 May 9, 2025
Forbes, 2020 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 9, 2025
GeoLounge, Fortune 1000 Companies List for 2020 , Fortune 1000 by State and Place. Accessed on May 9, 2025
IBIS World, State Economic Profile (including GDP). Accessed on May 9, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 9, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 9, 2025
State Symbols USA, State Nicknames. Accessed on May 9, 2025
United States Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Maine. Accessed on May 9, 2025
USA Trade Online, Official Source of Trade Statistics. Accessed on May 9, 2025
Wikipedia, Category:Companies based in Maine. Accessed on May 9, 2025
Wikipedia, List of U.S. states and territories by GDP. Accessed on May 9, 2025
Wikipedia, Maine. Accessed on May 9, 2025
YCharts, Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Report. Accessed on May 9, 2025
Zippia, These are the 100 largest companies in Maine. Accessed on May 9, 2025