OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – The Oklahoma Department of Commerce will use federal funds to help companies across the state increase their international sales.
The U.S. Small Business Administration awarded the Department of Commerce $290,000 in competitive grant funds through the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) grant program, which helps companies maximize their exporting capabilities.
Oklahoma is one of 43 awardees receiving the grant.
“With 95 percent of the world’s consumers based outside of the United States, our small businesses need access to markets abroad to grow and create good jobs in America,” said Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). “Through SBA’s STEP funding to states, small businesses can get grants to export to new markets and grow their revenues through marketing, trade missions and more.”
The STEP grant program has awarded Oklahoma a combined $1,718,600 in funding, so far, supporting 135 Oklahoma small businesses to increase their export sales.
Oklahoma companies immediately apply through Commerce to receive STEP funds.
The following exporting activities are eligible for grant funding:
- Participating in foreign trade missions and market sales trips;
- Designing international marketing campaigns;
- Participating in export trade show exhibits; and,
- Attending training workshops.
Oklahoma exported $6.5 billion in goods to the world in 2023. Exports from Oklahoma supported an estimated 25,000 jobs in 2021, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
The U.S. Trade Representative website provided the following data on Oklahoma’s exporting industry:
Exports from Oklahoma and Jobs
- Oklahoma was the 37th largest state exporter of goods in 2023.
- Oklahoma goods exports were $6.5 billion in 2023, a decrease of 6 percent ($409 million) from its export level in 2013 (latest data available).
- Goods exports accounted for 2.6 percent of Oklahoma GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
- Oklahoma goods exports in 2021 (latest data available) supported an estimated 25 thousand jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.
Manufacturing Exports from Oklahoma and Jobs
- Oklahoma exported $6 billion of manufactured products in 2023.
- Oklahoma exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 20 thousand jobs in 2021 (latest data available).
- The state’s largest manufacturing export category is transportation equipment, which accounted for $1.4 billion of Oklahoma’s total goods exports in 2023.
- Other top manufacturing exports are machinery, except electrical ($1.1 billion), chemicals ($779 million), computer and electronic products ($770 million), and fabricated metal products, not elsewhere specified ($527 million).
Exports Sustain Thousands of Oklahoma Businesses many of which are SMEs
- A total of 3,017 companies exported from Oklahoma locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 2,532 (84 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
- Small and medium-sized firms generated 26.8 percent of Oklahoma’s total exports of goods in 2022.
Oklahoma Depends on World Markets
- The state’s largest market was Canada. Oklahoma exported $1.9 billion in goods to Canada in 2023, representing 29 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
Canada was followed by Mexico ($630 million), Germany ($595 million), Netherlands ($321 million), and Japan ($262 million).
Oklahoma’s exports to major world areas included:
2023 Value
APEC
$3.9 billion
Asia
$1.5 billion
European Union
$1.3 billion
South/Central America and Caribbean
$372 million
Sub-Saharan Africa
$175 million
51 percent of Oklahoma’s goods exports ($3.3 billion) in 2023 went to current FTA partners.
Agriculture in Oklahoma depends on Exports
- Oklahoma is the country’s 25th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $2.4 billion in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2022 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).[1]
- Top Agricultural exports were:
| 2022 Value | 2022 State Rank | |
| beef and veal | $623 million | 5 |
| wheat | $401 million | 5 |
| pork | $373 million | 6 |
| cotton | $339 million | 10 |
| other plant products | $123 million | 36 |
International Investment Creates Jobs in Oklahoma
- In 2021 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 64,200 Oklahoma workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Oklahoma included the United Kingdom, France and Canada.
- Foreign investment in Oklahoma was responsible for 4.9 percent of the state’s total private-industry employment in 2021.
Oklahoma’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting
In 2022 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Oklahoma recorded goods exports: Tulsa ($3.4 billion), Oklahoma City ($2 billion), Enid ($67 million), and Lawton ($27.3 million).
Visit the STEP page on the Oklahoma Department of Commerce website for more information on the STEP grant.
