With prices for gasoline still elevated, U.S. exports of refined petroleum products should smash the 2013 record-setting total easily this year.
The category, which includes jet fuel, diesel fuel, refined lubricating oils and kerosene as well as various types of gasoline, is also almost certain to repeat as the nation’s top-ranked export for the second consecutive year but only the third time since that record-setting 2013 total.
In the intervening years, the primary aviation category had ranked first but two fatal Boeing
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jet crashes and a travel-halting global pandemic seriously curtailed the Chicago-based company’s exports in recent years.
So far this year, the aircraft category ranks fourth, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, which is through May and the basis for this column.
This is the third in a series of columns about the nation’s exports. It follows similar series I did for the countries that are the nation’s top 10 trade partners and one for the airports, seaports and border crossings that are the nation’s top 10 “ports.”
The first article in this series focused on an overview of the top 10 exports. The second looked at the top 10 countries that are markets for U.S. exports and how they differ from our overall trade partners — including imports.
The fourth through 12th articles will look at No. 2 oil, No. 3 natural gas, the aforementioned No. 4 aviation category, No. 5 passenger vehicles, No. 6 computer chips, No. 7 plasma and vaccines, No. 8 motor vehicle parts, No. 9 primary medicine category and No. 10 medical instruments.
Through May, U.S. exports of refined petroleum products increased 82.18 percent over the first five months of 2021, from $29.08 billion to $52.97 billion.
Fourteen of the top 15 recipients of U.S. exports this year are in the Western Hemisphere, with 42% of the value going to just two: Canada and Mexico. The top 10 are accounting for 85.7% of all U.S. exports in this category. The Netherlands, a transshipment hub for Europe, is the only country in the top 15 not in the Western Hemisphere.
The top 15 are Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, the Netherlands, Ecuador, Argentina, the Bahamas, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.
The value of those exports to the top five all increased at least $1.98 billion through May, with Mexico up $6.47 billion. Exports to fourth- and fifth-ranked Chile and Panama have more than doubled since the same period of 2021.
About 80% of those exports are credited to Texas and Louisiana seaports and border crossing pipelines to Mexico, led by the ports of Houston, Corpus Christi and Port Arthur, which alone accounted for better than 40% of all U.S. exports through May.
All three saw the value of their exports increase more than 100% over the same period of 2021.
Among the top 10 were two Louisiana seaports (New Orleans and Lake Charles, which hugs the Texas border) one from Mississippi (Pascagoula) and one serving Canada (Pembina, N.D.).
