Washington saw the value of its agriculture exports grow by nearly 4% in 2022.

The $8 billion figure includes fish and seafood, frozen french fries, wheat, dairy, hay, apples and other products originating in the state, and it comes despite an unusual growing season that saw some smaller yields, plus some continued supply chain issues and other challenges.

“The numbers are up, which is great. And they’re not just up over the last two years, which were anomalies, they are up even from pre-Covid,” said Rianne Perry, manager of international marketing for the state Department of Agriculture. “These numbers are values – dollar values – and prices were up for a lot of products, so that is some of the reason why. But it also is just reflective of the fact that, with Covid, with all those issues we saw for the past couple of years, demand has always remained.”

Perry said she’s impressed by the agriculture industry’s resilience.

“There were so many challenges that affected (those in the industry), and coming out the other side now, we are seeing the resiliency and that our customers are still there. They still want our products. Those relationships that were built in the past are fruitful and continuing to yield fruit,” Perry said.

Exports by the numbers

The total value of all exports passing through Washington on their way to points overseas came in at $23.4 billion, according to data compiled by the state agriculture department.

The $8 billion figure comes when you factor out products that weren’t grown in the state but were shipped from here. The top Washington-originating commodities included fish and seafood at $1.3 billion, followed by frozen french fries at $969 million and wheat at $894 million.

Dairy, hay, apples, hop cones and extracts, beef, sweet and fresh cherries, and pulses (dry peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils) followed.

Frozen french fries were a success story, with the export value growing by nearly 16%.

Dairy also saw a big jump – of nearly 24%.

“Exports of dairy products are really surging for the U.S. and Washington,” Perry said, noting that Asian markets in particular are a source of growing demand for dairy.

Meanwhile, cherries saw a drop of about 18% in export value. Perry said that’s not because of issues with quality or lack of demand, but because of a small 2022 crop. Unseasonably cool temperatures and late snow contributed to a drop in production last season over 2021.

Biggest customers

Canada remained the biggest customer for Washington exports.

Our northern neighbor bought $1.4 billion in fish and seafood, apples and cherries, an increase of more than 5% over the previous year. Next up was Japan, which bought $1.3 billion in hay, french fries and fish and seafood, up more than 10% over the previous year.

China was the third-biggest buyer, purchasing $834 million in hay, beef and fish and seafood.

That represented a drop of more than 16% over 2021. 

“As you can imagine, the trade war with China has impacted our exports over the years. We still have tariffs on a lot of our products to China. It had been a top market for cherries, but when tariffs went into effect in 2018, that changed. It’s still a very important market for us. It’s become much more complicated and more uncertain, but they are certainly still a large customer,” Perry said.

South Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Netherlands and Vietnam rounded out the top 10.

Perry said a greater focus by the U.S. government on trade and pursuing free trade agreements – especially in markets such as Southeast Asia – would be beneficial.

While the state has high-quality agricultural products, it’s at a disadvantage in many countries because of tariffs or restrictions, opening the door to competitors.

It would be great “to see more attention given to (trade),” she said.

Perry also noted that an increase in funding for trade promotion in the federal 2023 Farm Bill is a priority for the state agricultural export industry.

“Marketing is a very big deal. The economic impact of exports is incredibly substantial. I don’t think people realize the dollars that are coming back to Washington state, for example,” she said.