Access to the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Atlantic Ocean, as well as to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, helps make Minnesota a major marketing and distribution center for the upper Midwest. Sales by wholesale establishments totaled $103 billion in 1997, up by 43% during the previous five years, with the 11th highest growth rate in the country. As of 1997, the state's 10,915 wholesale trade establishments had payroll totals of $5.5 billion. Retail sales totaled $49 billion in 1997. The 28,378 retail establishments in 1997 had payroll totals slightly higher than $5.4 billion. Eating and drinking establishments accounted for 28% of the total number of establishments; auto dealers, 14%; and food stores, 9%. Much of this volume was concentrated in the Twin Cities metropolitan region.
Exports of manufactured goods to foreign countries amounted to $9.1 billion in 1998. Manufactured exports included computers and computer software, electronic equipment, scientific instruments, and transportation equipment. Dairy products, feed grains, soybeans, and wheat were the largest agricultural commodity exports; the total value estimated at $2.4 billion in 1998, making Minnesota the 7th largest agricultural exporter in the US. Exports went primarily to Canada, Japan, Germany, and the UK.