WorldCity, Annual Report: No. 1 China- Cotton and furniture lead roster | Connecting Local Business Leaders To The Global Economy

Annual Report: No. 1 China- Cotton and furniture lead roster

June 18th, 2006

Georgia’s trade with China is up 29 percent – and is projected to grow even more in 2006 thanks to cooperative agreements signed by port officials in both regions.

Trade between Georgia and China is on the rise – and authorities expect it to continue gaining thanks to new trade lanes and cooperation agreements signed by port officials in both Georgia and China.

The two-way trade rose 29 percent last year behind a flood of Asian-made furniture, computer and toy imports. On the U.S. side, exports destined to supply China’s textile industry topped the commodity list.

The trade relationship overwhelmingly benefited the Asian country, which shipped $9.9 billion-worth of goods to Georgia but only received $2.2 billion-worth from the state.

	Top Georgia imports from China in 2005	Value 2005	Change
	Total all commodities	$9,936,027,984	29.10%
1	Furniture, parts	594,247,147	33.10%
2	Toys, scale models, puzzles	560,975,194	16.00%
3	Computers	549,676,715	40.60%
4	Lamp and lighting parts	360,417,658	26.60%
5	Seats, excluding barber, dental	315,360,274	31.80%
6	Saws, drills and other hand tools	289,805,632	5.10%
7	Video recording equipment	271,844,814	-1.60%
8	Carnival art	254,286,082	21.90%
9	Equipment, parts for exercising	194,325,392	65.60%
10	Compressors and pumps	169,631,198	39.20%
11	Computer parts	165,401,547	113.50%
12	Parts for arcade, parlor games	165,037,506	43.40%
13	Non-electric stoves, ranges	147,100,838	23.30%
14	Footwear, leather upper	144,284,853	1.50%
15	Electric water, space, soil heaters	142,866,392	47.90%
16	Babies' garments, accessories, knit or crocheted	136,737,136	-4.40%
17	Rubber tires	134,581,988	49.90%
18	Transmission apparatus for cellular phones	132,402,103	54.30%
19	Reception apparatus for cellular phones	121,810,976	6.80%
20	Miscellaneous plastic articles	112,870,195	41.10%
21	Travel goods, including handbags, wallets, jewelry cases	108,553,551	23.00%
22	Footwear, rubber or plastic	107,682,855	-0.40%
23	Linens for bed, bath and kitchen	98,200,082	147.20%
24	Electric equipment for line telephony	95,522,554	45.00%
25	Cleaning cloths, life jackets, other made-up textile articles	91,776,607	24.40%

Georgia has become an important distribution point for large retailers that sell goods made in China. IKEA and Target announced late in 2005 that they would open distribution centers near the Port of Savannah. Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Pier One already have centers within the Savannah Customs District, which includes Atlanta and Brunswick.

At the same time, Atlanta-based United Parcel Service is active in China, with 21 weekly flights to the Asian powerhouse, 15 to Shanghai and six to Guangzhou. The company has a logistics distribution center in China, as well as multiple warehouses.

In WorldCity’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data for Georgia, furniture emerged as the top import from China. Some $594 million in Chinese-made furniture was imported in 2005, a 33 percent increase from the year before. Toys, at $561 million, weren’t far behind. However, the biggest value increases came in the commodity category of computers as multinationals like Dell, IBM and Samsung continued to shift their manufacturing to China.

Nearly $550 million in Chinese-made computers entered the United States through Georgia in 2005. That was a 41 percent gain from a year earlier. U.S. imports of computer parts also were up, by a whopping 114 percent, to close the year at $165 million.

Cotton was Georgia’s leading export to China, valuing $204 million, although that reflected a nearly 25 percent drop from 2004. Additionally, the Savannah Customs District exported $145 million-worth of filament tow, or fiber for yarn. Those exports were up 49 percent from 2004. Polyesters and similar products also jumped dramatically, to $118 million in 2005 compared to $60 million a year earlier.

2005	Top Georgia Exports to China	Value 2005	Change
Rank	Total alll commodities	$2,192,464,509.00	28.80%
1	Cotton, not carded or combed	$204,385,261.00	-24.90%
2	Artificial filament tow	$145,072,939.00	49.00%
3	Polyethers, expoxides and polyesters, primary forms	$118,326,808.00	96.60%
4	Chemical woodpulp	$105,601,926.00	50.80%
5	Heterocyclic chemical compounds	$87,931,508.00	202.70%
6	Poultry, fresh, chilled or frozen	$73,173,659.00	985.00%
7	Electric capacitors	$51,800,762.00	32.40%
8	Kaolin clays	$50,106,613.00	42.20%
9	Paper and paperboard, coated with kaolin	$48,831,671.00	-25.80%
10	Scrap iron, steel	$42,678,818.00	38.40%
11	Chemical Woodpulp, Dissolving Grades	$42,046,271.00	3.90%
12	Kraft Paper & Paperboard	$39,597,543.00	-22.70%
13	Copper waste and scrap	$37,786,036.00	24.10%
14	Compressors and pumps	$36,995,719.00	32.20%
15	Aluminum waste and scrap	$33,645,399.00	82.40%
16	Motor vehicles for transporting people	$32,217,709.00	292.90%
17	Optical fibers	$31,685,562.00	371.10%
18	Artificial Corundum	$30,587,205.00	3426.80%
19	Regional jet parts	$30,241,773.00	11.40%
20	Stainless steel products, under 600-milimeters wide	$29,544,949.00	1859.90%
21	Electric equipment for line telephony	$27,567,778.00	-27.80%
22	Rough wood, stripped	$24,213,794.00	18.50%
23	Electronic integrated circuits	$20,512,019.00	-32.60%
24	Computers	$19,075,222.00	70.40%
25	Computer parts	$18,617,619.00	91.20%

Georgia ports are a hub for wood pulp. In 2005, nearly $106 million-worth of chemical wood pulp passed through the Customs district bound for China, a 51 percent increase from the year before. Shipments of chemical compounds rose even more, jumping 203 percent to a value of $88 million.

Doug Marchand, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, said processed and manufactured-product exports to Shanghai alone had grown by a third in one year. Along the South Atlantic, Georgia Ports Authority is the biggest gateway for trade with Asia and the second largest port authority on the East Coast behind New York/New Jersey.

In October 2005, the Georgia Ports Authority and the Shanghai International Port Group signed a memorandum of understanding to provide both economies a strong working relationship as well as exchange information and expertise.

Georgia Port Authority said China and Hong Kong together accounted for more than 40 percent of its 2005 trade. China alone accounted for 37 percent of the trade.

The Port of Savannah, which is the fifth largest container port in the United States, is an important part of the Asia-United States shipping lanes. Service is 16 times a week; 14 cargo carriers go via the Panama Canal and two cross the Atlantic and use the Suez Canal. Currently, there are nine cargo departures weekly from Savannah to Shanghai and the port expects to add at least one more before the end of 2006.