Statistics
LA trade continues march toward $300 billion
November 13th, 2006
Los Angeles’ nation-leading trade with the world is up $27 billion through the first nine months of the year, according to WorldCity’s analysis of the latest U.S. Census data.
That’s the biggest dollar gain among the nation’s Customs districts, though Los Angeles’ rate of growth of continues to lag behind the U.S. average of 13.7 percent.
It is on target to become the first U.S. Customs district to surpass $300 billion in annual trade, probably in either late November or early December.
Los Angeles’ trade with the world will be the topic of discussion when WorldCity hosts an event on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006, at the Biltmore in downtown Los Angeles to introduce its new annual publication, LA TradeNumbers.
The publication and event are sponsored by the Datamyne, the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports.
Through the first nine months of the year, there is very little movement in the rankings among Los Angeles’ top trade partners, with only Singapore slipping ahead of Australia into the No. 9 position. It had been No. 6 as recently as 2003.
Iraq continues to grow quickly, moving up nine positions to land at No. 18, on 133 percent growth, largely in imports.
China continues to be the dominant trade partner, with almost $86 billion in trade through the first nine months. No. 2 Japan registered $37.6 billion, followed by South Korea at $15.6 billion, Taiwan at $12.4 billion and Malaysia at $7.3 billion.
| 2006 | 2005 | Total Trade | September 2006 YTD | September 2005 YTD | Dollar Change | Percent Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Total | $242,882,766,449 | $215,753,115,521 | $27,129,650,928 | 12.57% | ||
| 1 | 1 | China | $85,961,809,683 | $74,421,313,395 | $11,540,496,288 | 15.51% |
| 2 | 2 | Japan | $37,619,715,993 | $33,980,883,216 | $3,638,832,777 | 10.71% |
| 3 | 3 | South Korea | $15,588,305,770 | $13,171,648,312 | $2,416,657,458 | 18.35% |
| 4 | 4 | Taiwan | $12,409,937,343 | $11,160,832,912 | $1,249,104,431 | 11.19% |
| 5 | 5 | Malaysia | $7,255,973,386 | $6,969,635,600 | $286,337,786 | 4.11% |
| 6 | 6 | Germany | $6,843,056,239 | $6,572,350,939 | $270,705,300 | 4.12% |
| 7 | 7 | Thailand | $6,689,085,370 | $5,960,485,438 | $728,599,932 | 12.22% |
| 8 | 9 | Singapore | $6,181,108,778 | $5,310,302,970 | $870,805,808 | 16.40% |
| 9 | 8 | Australia | $5,797,593,985 | $5,596,888,099 | $200,705,886 | 3.59% |
| 10 | 10 | Hong Kong | $5,103,439,249 | $4,839,439,859 | $263,999,390 | 5.46% |
| 11 | 11 | United Kingdom | $4,029,732,121 | $4,183,452,404 | ($153,720,283) | -3.67% |
| 12 | 12 | Indonesia | $3,734,163,982 | $3,644,749,078 | $89,414,904 | 2.45% |
| 13 | 13 | Philippines | $3,408,098,771 | $3,093,860,002 | $314,238,769 | 10.16% |
| 14 | 14 | India | $2,844,969,312 | $2,594,369,669 | $250,599,643 | 9.66% |
| 15 | 16 | Vietnam | $2,467,301,588 | $2,015,343,220 | $451,958,368 | 22.43% |
| 16 | 21 | Ecuador | $2,273,452,060 | $1,558,826,114 | $714,625,946 | 45.84% |
| 17 | 17 | Mexico | $2,261,055,363 | $1,979,506,834 | $281,548,529 | 14.22% |
| 18 | 27 | Iraq | $2,254,514,973 | $966,548,620 | $1,287,966,353 | 133.25% |
| 19 | 20 | Netherlands | $2,158,553,124 | $1,755,659,877 | $402,893,247 | 22.95% |
| 20 | 15 | Italy | $2,021,587,036 | $2,018,621,951 | $2,965,085 | 0.15% |
| 21 | 18 | Saudi Arabia | $1,966,119,166 | $1,894,022,948 | $72,096,218 | 3.81% |
| 22 | 23 | Brazil | $1,872,462,975 | $1,422,313,197 | $450,149,778 | 31.65% |
| 23 | 19 | France | $1,835,213,346 | $1,773,332,160 | $61,881,186 | 3.49% |
| 24 | 22 | Belgium | $1,506,183,643 | $1,540,462,238 | ($34,278,595) | -2.23% |
| 25 | 24 | New Zealand | $1,253,644,543 | $1,390,981,279 | ($137,336,736) | -9.87% |
Los Angeles’ trade imbalance continued to widen, growing from $101 billion through the first nine months of 2005 to $109 billion through the first three quarters of 2006, according to WorldCity analysis. China accounts for $61.4 billion of that.
The Los Angeles Customs district is followed by New York, Detroit, Houston, Laredo, New Orleans, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco and Buffalo. Houston has slipped past both New Orleans and Laredo, Texas, in the last year due to the increased cost of oil.
For more information about New York’s or Houston’s trade, visit those areas of www.worldcityweb.com.
New Orleans’ trade has largely recovered from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, as previously reported in the U.S. section.
2nd annual L.A. TradeNumbers released (05/30/2007)
LA trade up at twice the national average (04/23/2007)
Los Angeles rips up the trade record book (02/13/2007)
$300 billion record set; next is new milestone with imports (02/01/2007)
Los Angeles poised to set U.S. trade record (12/11/2006)
LA trade continues march toward $300 billion (11/13/2006)
Deficit yes, but there is more balance, when viewed by nations (11/01/2006)
Six-month report: LA up 12 percent, slower than national average (08/30/2006)
A trifecta: Passing Japan, China is top destination for LA exports, in addition to imports and total trade (07/28/2006)
The nation's most important trade district continues its romance with fast growing Asia (03/15/2006)
LA trade growth at 11%
China, India, Ecuador are best performers (01/01/2006)