That dollar amount reflects an 84% increase from $1.16 billion four years earlier since 2020.
Year over year, the overall value of goods exported from Wyoming advanced by 14.3% compared to $1.43 billion for 2022.
Wyoming ranks among America’s 3 smallest exporters by state ahead of Vermont and Hawaii.
The value of Wyoming’s exports equals 0.1% of the United States’ overall exported products for 2023.
Based on research from IBIS World, Wyoming’s exported products represent 6% of the state’s total economic output or Gross Domestic Product in 2023 ($36 billion).
Given Wyoming’s population of 578,756 people, its total $2.14 billion in 2023 exports translates to roughly $3,700 for every resident in the Equality State. That dollar metric exceeds the average $3,200 per capita for 2022.
Wyoming’s unemployment rate was 2.8% at the end of March 2023, down from the state’s jobless rate of 3% one year earlier per YCharts.
Wyoming’s Top 10 Exports
The following export products represent the highest dollar value in Wyoming global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Wyoming.
Figures are shown at the more granular six-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, for more precise product identification.
- Disodium carbonate: US$1.55 billion (72.3% of Wyoming’s exports)
- Processed petroleum oils (not diesel): $83.9 million (3.9%)
- Bituminous coal (not agglomerated): $66 million (3.1%)
- Ammonium dihydrogen orthophosphate: $47.1 million (2.2%)
- Rare gases excluding aragonite: $44.1 million (2.1%)
- Bentonite including calcined: $36.1 million (1.7%)
- Vehicle bodies for road tractors, vans, cabs: $22.6 million (1.1%)
- Derricks/cranes parts, attachments: $21.5 million (1%)
- Boring or sinking machinery: $18.9 million (0.9%)
- Military weapon parts, accessories: $13.3 million (0.6%)
Wyoming’s top 10 exports accounted for 88.8% of the overall value of the state’s global shipments.
Rare gases excluding aragonite represents the fastest grower among the state’s top 10 export categories, up by 88.6% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales were military weapon parts or accessories which gained 56.3%.
The third-fastest advance was the 23.6% uptick for Wyoming’s shipments of processed petroleum oils excluding diesel ahead of exported disodium carbonate (up 22% from 2022).
Year over year, there were two decliners among Wyoming’s top 10 export products: vehicle bodies for road tractors, vans and cabs (down -11.9%) and the absorbent clay bentonite used in drilling (down -4.2%).
More Key Facts about Wyoming’s International Trade
Wyoming recorded an overall US$1.11 billion surplus exporting and importing products during 2023. That dollar amount results from a 336.7% expansion from the $253.1 million trade surplus for 2022.
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 Wyoming’s top 10 import products highlighting the state’s highest spending on foreign-made goods in 2023.
- Railway or tram cars (not self-propelled): US$39.5 million (3.8% of Wyoming’s imports)
- Ammonium nitrate: $38.3 million (3.7%)
- Air conditioning machinery: $34.7 million (3.3%)
- Railway or tram cars (miscellaneous, covered): $34.1 million (3.3%)
- Processed petroleum oils (not diesel): $25.1 million (2.4%)
- Flour meal: $25 million (2.4%)
- Saturated acyclic hydrocarbons: $21.6 million (2.1%)
- Electrical energy: $20.4 million (2%)
- Air or gas pumps, compressors, fans: $17.9 million (1.7%)
- Crude petroleum oils: $16.9 million (1.6%)
Wyoming has negative net exports in the international trade of railway or tram cars. In turn, these cashflows indicate Wyoming’s competitive disadvantages under related product categories.
Wyoming’s 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 Wyoming during 2023.
- Canada: US$379.7 million (17.7% of Wyoming’s exports)
- Chile: $263.4 million (12.3%)
- Brazil: $221 million (10.3%)
- Indonesia: $154.6 million (7.2%)
- South Korea: $140.5 million (6.6%)
- Argentina: $93.1 million (4.3%)
- Vietnam: $92.8 million (4.3%)
- Japan: $87.7 million (4.1%)
- mainland China: $85 million (4%)
- Australia: $84.5 million (3.9%)
Wyoming’s top trade partners in Asia (Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan and mainland China) bought 26.2% of the overall value of exported goods from the Equality State.
The percentage for leading Asian countries compares with the 20.8% of Wyoming’s overall shipments that were shipped to its North American trade partners (Canada and Mexico).
Another 27% was bought by major South American importers (Chile, Brazil and Argentina).
Wyomingite Export Companies
Not one Wyoming-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 Wyoming.
- Admiral Beverage (soft drinks, bottled water)
- Ciner (soda ash)
- Cloud Peak Energy Inc. (coal mining)
- Simon Contractors (technologies, speciality concrete)
- Wyoming Machinery (heavy machinery)
Shown within brackets for each company is a summary of the international trade-related products or services which each business sells.
Wyoming’s capital is Cheyenne, a city nicknamed the “Frontier City” and “Magic City of the Plains”.
See also Indiana’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:
FlagPictures.org, Flags of US States. Accessed on May 7, 2024
Forbes, 2020 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 7, 2024
GeoLounge, Fortune 1000 Companies List for 2020 , Fortune 1000 by State and Place. Accessed on May 7, 2024
IBIS World, Wyoming Economic Overview (gross domestic product, population). Accessed on May 7, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 7, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 7, 2024
State Symbols USA, State Nicknames. Accessed on May 7, 2024
United States Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Wyoming. Accessed on May 7, 2024
USA Trade Online, Official Source of Trade Statistics. Accessed on May 7, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Wyoming Companies. Accessed on May 7, 2024
Wikipedia, List of U.S. states and territories by GDP. Accessed on May 7, 2024
Wikipedia, Wyoming. Accessed on May 7, 2024
YCharts, Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Report. Accessed on May 7, 2024