U.S. Fluid Power Product Exports Decline $1 Billion in 2020

U.S. fluid power product exports dropped 14.3% when compared to last year, reaching 5.6 billion dollars in 2020. Declining nearly one billion dollars since 2019, U.S. fluid power exports faced several challenges, including a recessionary economy brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as an uncertain foreign trade environment due to unstable trade policies, unpredictable sanctions and wavering tariffs. Continued consistency in major trade partner rankings and leading fluid power product export rankings imply that these challenges were equally faced across the globe.

NFPA’s recently released 2020 U.S. Foreign Trade Data for Fluid Power Products highlighted the impact of these trends and more. This annual report includes summarized fluid power product-focused foreign trade data collected by the United States International Trade Commission that breaks down U.S. fluid power import/export activity by both country and product in a trade snapshot summary page, detailed top ten trading partners by fluid power product and trade activity trend graphs.

The 2020 U.S. fluid power exports deviated from an otherwise consistent growth trend, declining 14.3% when compared to 2019.

As mentioned earlier, U.S. fluid power exports’ top ten trade partners remained consistent even through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The U.S. fluid power industry’s top five trading partners represent over half of our industry’s exports at 55%, while our top ten trading partners represent 72%. The remaining 28% of our exports is divided amongst 180 other countries.

Both leading and emerging destinations of fluid power exports revealed their exposure to an uncertain foreign trade environment in 2020 as well, with declining export activity as displayed on the trend graph above. A combination of compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and total fluid power product export dollars are used to determine emerging destinations.

Much like the by-country data, U.S. exports by fluid power product-type experienced no change in top ten rankings, maintaining a trend of consistency throughout the pandemic. The top five fluid power products represent 61% of all U.S. fluid power product exports, while the top ten represent over 88%.

All the data used to generate the graphs and information above can be found in NFPA’s 2020 Foreign Trade Report, an exclusive benefit of NFPA membership. This report is currently available on the NFPA website and can be reached by CLICKING HERE.

Questions? Contact Eric Armstrong at earmstrong@nfpa.com or (414) 778-3372.

Tip: Eric Armstrong also offers a Market Information Resource Walk-Through Webinar for those individuals who are interested in learning more about these valuable resources that are available with your NFPA membership.