Alabama exports topped $25.5 billion in 2022

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Alabama is seeing dramatic growth in exports of “Made in Alabama” products. Since 2020, there has been a 47% increase. Alabama’s 2022 exports topped $25.5 billion.

“What’s really impressive about that number is we really shattered our previous high of 2017, when we hit the high point for the state record at $21.7 billion,” said Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield.

Canfield says Alabama’s economy has proven resilient, even with all of the disruptions with the pandemic and supply issues.

“We’re perceived to be a state that punches above its weight class. We’re very well known for having high-quality products coming from a high-quality workforce, and that translates well across the globe with the countries that we deal with,” said Canfield.

“The state has not only supported growth, but has encouraged it,” said Eduardo Cuneo with Valley Rubber. “You can see different ways, but the way we see it is they have been there every step of the way trying to help us to get out. Be more aggressive in exports.”

Valley Rubber is located in Falkville. Eduardo Cuneo says they have been able to add three new distributors in Brazil in southern Chile.

“We have grown at a rate of almost 20% yearly to the point that before the pandemic we became to be almost 40% of all total production exported to Latin America. And now this year has started even stronger than that. So we are happy for several reasons,” said Cuneo.

The state’s number one export category was transportation equipment. It jumped 9% to reach $11.4 billion. Also among the state’s top exports are chemicals, minerals, ores, metals and paper.

“There’s a lot of variety in those numbers for the state of Alabama. We’ve done a great job in the automotive sector and no one can dispute that. But I think where we’re seeing a lot of recent growth opportunity is in the aerospace sector,” said Canfield.

Right now, “Made in Alabama” products are found in more than 196 countries. Canfield says they are looking to expand on that number.

Sign up for the WSFA Newsletter and get the latest local news and breaking alerts in your email!

Copyright 2023 WSFA. All rights reserved.