YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A new analysis compiled by international trade specialists and researchers at Youngstown State University shows that export activity across the Buckeye State demonstrates “remarkable resilience,” driven by key industries that present encouraging opportunities for Ohio companies and organizations.
“This is the first study of its kind that we’re aware of,” says Mousa Kassis, director of the Ohio Small Business Development Center’s Export Assistance Network, which is housed at YSU’s Williamson College of Business Administration. The purpose of the study is to create a more focused approach to help build a strategy to boost Ohio exports, he says. In this sense, the report is designed to serve as a resource for companies, trade organizations, universities, economic development leaders and policymakers.
“This study is the basis of a plan to go forward,” Kassis says.
The 163-page research report canvasses a seven-year period between 2018 and 2024 that identifies the most in-demand products manufactured in Ohio and the top countries the state does business with. The analysis was created by a research team led by Kassis and Mariah Hauser, international trade specialist at the Export Assistance Center. Also contributing to the project were Nathan Heinly, graduate assistant at YSU; and James Slessor and Moritz Bayer, two Beeghly Fellow interns at YSU.
“My original background isn’t in exporting or international trade,” Heinly says. “What drew me to this project is that I tend to have a strong numbers background that might prove vital for a project like this.”
Heinly coordinated the student research team for the project, which took more than two months to complete.
Where Ohio Exports
Global business is vital to Ohio’s economy, Kassis says. In 2024, companies across the state exported $56.6 billion worth of products worldwide, making Ohio the 10th largest state in the country in exported products. Another $20 billion in services were also exported. “That’s nearly $80 billion,” he says. Aside from this activity, Ohio imports approximately $100 billion worth of goods and services, he says.
The new analysis concentrates specifically on Ohio exported products, not services. It also does not evaluate the impact of imports.
Over the last seven years, the international market has been susceptible to turmoil, whether it be through administrative trade policies, the global pandemic, or supply-chain disruptions, Kassis says. It’s therefore important that Ohio focus on those business sectors and countries that are the least affected by market volatility and provide the best opportunity to expand its import business.
Canada is the dominant market for Ohio, representing $19.9 billion – or 35.2% – of the state’s exports in 2024, down 8.9% from the previous year. Mexico is the second-largest consumer, importing $9.6 billion in products from the state last year, a 15.5% increase from 2023. Asia accounted for 12.3% of Ohio export activity – led by China at $3 billion, followed by Japan at $1.9 billion, and Taiwan with $1.2 billion.
Meanwhile, exports to Europe show mixed results for 2024. The United Kingdom represented $1.84 billion in export purchases, a decrease of 3%; while exports to Germany and France increased from 2023 to 2024. According to the study, Germany imported $1.5 billion worth of products from Ohio in 2024 – an increase of 9.5% from the previous year – and exports to France totaled $1.2 billion, an improvement of 3.9%.
Exports to Brazil totaled approximately $1.6 billion, representing a decline of 21.8%, data show. On the other hand, markets in Taiwan improved by 30.7%, reaching $1.18 billion, while opportunities also opened in Australia during 2024, as that market improved 22.1%, totaling $1.13 billion of Ohio’s exports.
“What we’ve seen is that over the last seven years, those Top 10 haven’t changed too much,” Kassis says. Canada, Mexico and China have long been Ohio’s three most lucrative export markets, he says, while Japan, the U.K. and Brazil are steady partners.
However, data show that export activity improved in 2024 in countries such as Germany, France, Taiwan, and Australia, the latter which recently moved into the 10th position among Ohio’s largest trading partners.
In 2022, for example, Ohio companies exported $901.8 million worth of products to Australia, Kassis says. It improved to $928.8 million in 2023 and to $1.13 billion last year. These increases were largely driven by two business sectors important to Ohio: vehicles and aerospace. “Between 2022 and 2024, we’ve seen an 88.7% increase in exports in vehicles and parts,” he says, totaling $370.4 million last year. “They’re buying military vehicles from Ohio.”
In the aircraft and parts segment, export business to Australia soared 117.6% over the period, Kassis says. Other sectors, such as medical instruments and electronic machinery, also showed export gains. “These are the kinds of things we look at,” he says.
What Ohio Exports
The analysis also considers trends reflecting those Ohio products that are in heavy demand worldwide, especially from those Top 10 trading partners, Kassis says. In all, the study identified 15 commodity classifications that are among Ohio’s top exports.
The largest value category of Ohio exports is through the sale of industrial machinery, including computers, Kassis says. In 2024, these products accounted for $9.7 billion worth of business, or 17.3% of all exports. The second largest is vehicles and parts, which brought in $7.6 billion, or 13.6% of Ohio’s export market.
Aerospace and aircraft components are another core market, Kassis says. Last year, Ohio companies exported $5.8 billion in aircraft and parts, accounting for 10.3% of the state’s global export trade.
“China, for example, wants to double their civilian aircraft fleet by 2040,” Kassis says. “They can’t build it all themselves.”
That leaves China to court companies such as Boeing or Airbus to complement production. Ohio’s strong presence in the aerospace industry places it in a competitive position to capture some of this business. “It would be blind on our side not to focus on the Chinese market,” Kassis says. India is another possibility, he adds, noting that the country has plans to increase its fleet of commercial aircraft by 600 in the near future.
Of the 15 product categories, six exhibit general upward trends in all 10 countries over a seven-year period between 2018 and 2024, as businesses reconstituted from challenges such as the global pandemic. Moreover, most of the six represent sectors with products that are high value and tech-oriented. These include industrial machinery; electric machinery, sound and TV equipment; optical, photographic and medical instruments; pharmaceutical products; cosmetics, perfumery and essential oils; and aircraft, spacecraft and parts. Together, these sectors represent 41.3% of the state’s export economy.
“It shows that Ohio can provide cyclical economies as well as advanced economies with medical equipment, aerospace and industrial machinery,” Kassis says.
Those Ohio-made products trending downward across the 10 major countries include iron and steel; articles of iron or steel; oil seeds and miscellaneous grain; rubber and rubber products; and organic chemicals, the study shows. However, these classifications combined account for just 9% of Ohio’s exports.
Other findings were more nuanced, given the demand from specific countries for specific products, he says.
For example, the study also found that exports of materials such as cermets – a ceramic-metallic composite – have gradually increased over the seven-year period to five major trading partners. Ohio exports of cermets increased 28% to Germany, driven by that country’s demand for high-performance alloys used in the automotive and energy sectors. Meanwhile, cermet shipments to Japan increased 23%, exports to the U.K. improved 19%, exports to China increased 14.8%, and Mexico imports increased by 13% over the period.
The study did not include agricultural products in its scope.
According to the office of the United States Trade Representative, the Cincinnati region recorded the most exports of all Ohio municipal areas in 2023 with more than $30.2 billion worth of goods shipped internationally. The second largest is Cleveland, with $10.2 billion worth of goods shipped.
The Youngstown-Warren region ranks ninth in exports with $735.5 million.
“When you look at the products, we have a lot of companies in the local area that fall in those industries,” says Mariah Hauser, international trade specialist with the Export Assistance Network. The study did not identify particular regions and their export activity across the
state.
However, the Trade Representative’s office shows that Ohio’s exports support an estimated 210,000 jobs across the state, according to the latest data from 2022. In 2023, a total of 15,594 companies exported products from Ohio locations, of which 13,683, or 88.5%, were identified as small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
Next Steps
Kassis says the study was designed as a work-in-progress, as data from 2025 is still being synthesized and it’s unclear as to what impact tariffs enacted under the Trump administration will have on Ohio exports. “When the 2025 numbers come in, we’ll add them,” he says.
At present, Kassis says it’s still too early to gauge the full effect of the administration’s trade policy, but through August it appears overall Ohio exports are trending slightly below last year.
It’s nevertheless important to use this data to help develop a comprehensive trade and export strategy for Ohio’s future, Kassis says. It’s also imperative that both state and federal legislators understand how important global trade is to Ohio’s economy.
In order to grow Ohio’s export business, the state needs to step up its support for organizations such as the Export Assistance Network, which has five centers across Ohio, Kassis says. Renewed funding would help boost the state’s ability to organize trade missions, collect data, collaborate with the private sector, and to encourage international business development.
Other states such as Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia enjoy more funding than Ohio, Kassis says. “West Virginia has double the funding we have,” he says. In 2024, West Virginia exported $4.9 billion worth of goods and is the 41st largest exporting state in the country, according to the Trade Representative’s office.
“Countries around the world reach out to us [Ohio] for medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and industrial machinery to revamp or reignite their industries,” Kassis says. “We need to take a proactive approach.”
Pictured at top: James Slessor, Beeghly Fellow intern; Mariah Hauser, Export Assistance Network international trade specialist; Nathan Heinly, graduate assistant; Mousa Kassis, director of the SBDC’s Export Assistance Network; and Moritz Bayer, Beeghly Fellow intern, helped prepare a 163-page export trade analysis.