Statistics

LA trade growth at 11%
China, India, Ecuador are best performers

January 1st, 2006

Los Angeles’ trade with the world increased slightly less than 11 percent through the first nine months of the year, with imports from China, India and Ecuador showing the strongest growth.

Los Angeles is widening its position as the nation’s leading Customs district, growing faster than New York, which was No. 1 in 2000. Los Angeles’ trade with the world was worth more than $215 billion through September, according to WorldCity analysis of U.S. Census data.

2005	2004	Total Trade	Jan.-Sept. 2005	Jan.-Sept. 2004	Dollar Change	Percent Change
		.World Total	$215,713,029,061	$194,688,408,648	$21,024,620,413	10.80%
1	1	China	$74,384,677,289	$61,785,404,380	$12,599,272,909	20.39%
2	2	Japan	$33,984,861,084	$32,520,255,084	$1,464,606,000	4.50%
3	3	South Korea	$13,170,917,795	$12,377,553,589	$793,364,206	6.41%
4	4	Taiwan	$11,158,249,205	$10,954,169,788	$204,079,417	1.86%
5	5	Malaysia	$6,968,900,379	$7,767,039,649	($798,139,270)	-10.28%
6	6	Germany	$6,557,379,472	$6,098,442,213	$458,937,259	7.53%
7	8	Thailand	$5,959,470,776	$5,432,961,740	$526,509,036	9.69%
8	9	Australia	$5,579,678,418	$5,171,623,802	$408,054,616	7.89%
9	7	Singapore	$5,301,314,447	$5,460,186,456	($158,872,009)	-2.91%
10	10	Hong Kong	$4,828,051,300	$4,767,394,944	$60,656,356	1.27%
11	11	United Kingdom	$4,180,364,395	$3,672,260,507	$508,103,888	13.84%
12	12	Indonesia	$3,644,872,417	$3,224,193,871	$420,678,546	13.05%
13	13	Philippines	$3,093,542,901	$3,134,232,571	($40,689,670)	-1.30%
14	14	India	$2,593,717,838	$2,153,110,128	$440,607,710	20.46%
15	18	Italy	$2,026,449,497	$1,714,049,008	$312,400,489	18.23%
16	17	Vietnam	$2,015,291,684	$1,734,054,209	$281,237,475	16.22%
17	15	Mexico	$1,981,077,072	$1,863,400,441	$117,676,631	6.32%
18	23	Saudi Arabia	$1,893,999,474	$1,104,129,148	$789,870,326	71.54%
19	20	Netherlands	$1,778,911,298	$1,571,836,370	$207,074,928	13.17%
20	16	France	$1,772,689,678	$1,789,752,047	($17,062,369)	-0.95%
21	26	Ecuador	$1,578,623,363	$971,696,328	$606,927,035	62.46%
22	19	Belgium	$1,537,023,431	$1,596,308,752	($59,285,321)	-3.71%
23	25	Brazil	$1,424,256,040	$982,208,835	$442,047,205	45.01%
24	21	New Zealand	$1,389,696,911	$1,272,482,786	$117,214,125	9.21%

It also has the nation’s largest trade deficit, with about 75 percent of its trade in imports. China is overwhelmingly the No. 1 trade partner, and stands the possibility of being the first nation is U.S. history of doing $100 billion in trade with one Customs district in one year.

Through nine months, China’s trade with Los Angeles was worth $74 billion, or about one-third of the total trade with the nation’s largest Customs district. The next four trade partners are also Asian – Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia. Outside Germany, at No. 6, and Australia, at No. 8, also in the Top 10 with Los Angeles are Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong. The top-ranked nation in the Western Hemisphere is Mexico, which slipped two positions to No. 17. Ecuador, which saw its imports grow by 64 percent, is Los Angeles’ No. 21-ranked trading partner, up five positions. Ecuador’s imports have risen so sharply because it is an oil-producing nation. Oil is, in fact, Los Angeles’ No. 3-ranked import, behind computers and cars. But while computer imports are up almost 6 percent and cars slightly more than 8 percent, oil imports have risen almost 56 percent. Most of that is related to price and not volume. Nevertheless, computers and cars each totaled about $15 billion through the first nine months of the year, compared with $5.7 billion for oil. Other top imports are computer parts and color TVs, cell phones, footwear, furniture, women’s suits and car parts. On the export side, Los Angeles exports computer motherboards, aircraft parts, computers, cotton, regional jet parts, computer parts, machinery parts, car parts, medical equipment and cars.

Top Exports, 2005

	Jan-Sep 2005	Jan-Sep 2004	Dollar Change	Percent Change
Total, All Commodities	$57,436,483,578	$53,490,471,815	$3,946,011,763	7.38%
Electronic integrated circuits	$5,460,563,605	$5,985,029,129	($524,465,524)	-8.76%
Aircraft parts	$3,246,146,531	$2,818,823,682	$427,322,849	15.16%
Computers	$1,630,302,673	$1,657,350,570	($27,047,897)	-1.63%
Cotton, Not Carded or Combed	$1,419,145,544	$1,584,990,691	($165,845,147)	-10.46%
Regional jet parts	$1,300,265,842	$922,406,818	$377,859,024	40.96%
Computer parts	$1,238,378,002	$1,069,128,057	$169,249,945	15.83%
Machinery parts	$930,599,693	$588,124,134	$342,475,559	58.23%
Motor vehicle parts	$926,228,947	$979,302,814	($53,073,867)	-5.42%
Medical instruments for surgeons, dentists, vets	$882,229,321	$814,169,905	$68,059,416	8.36%
Motor vehicles for transporting people	$814,129,196	$484,670,557	$329,458,639	67.98%
Scrap iron, steel	$680,783,339	$439,917,849	$240,865,490	54.75%
Exports of repaired imports Imports of returned exports	$679,884,082	$665,990,927	$13,893,155	2.09%
Photo-sensitive semi-conductors, parts	$666,286,599	$805,649,939	($139,363,340)	-17.30%
Human blood, animal blood, plasma, vaccines	$648,540,482	$674,240,097	($25,699,615)	-3.81%
Parts for cellular communications	$628,531,491	$610,409,559	$18,121,932	2.97%

Top Imports, 2005

	Jan-Sep 2005	Jan-Sep 2004	Dollar Change	Percent Change
Total, All Commodities	$158,276,545,483	$141,197,936,833	$17,078,608,650	12.10%
Computers	$15,968,228,598	$15,075,384,703	$892,843,895	5.92%
Motor vehicles for transporting people	$14,452,414,189	$13,341,783,749	$1,110,630,440	8.32%
Crude oil from Petroleum, bituminous minerals	$5,759,736,301	$3,694,442,515	$2,065,293,786	55.90%
Computer parts	$5,302,653,102	$5,665,854,322	($363,201,220)	-6.41%
Color TVs, computer monitors	$4,608,405,897	$3,158,901,550	$1,449,504,347	45.89%
Transmission apparatus for cellular phones	$3,776,141,319	$2,966,721,872	$809,419,447	27.28%
Footware, sole of rubber, plastic or leather; upper leather	$3,200,875,741	$3,040,142,074	$160,733,667	5.29%
Furniture, parts	$2,855,251,377	$2,332,016,658	$523,234,719	22.44%
Women's or girls' suits, not knit	$2,706,541,205	$1,879,008,780	$827,532,425	44.04%
Motor vehicle parts	$2,500,395,702	$2,327,986,863	$172,408,839	7.41%
Sweaters, pullovers, vest, knit or crocheted	$2,498,749,472	$2,325,909,114	$172,840,358	7.43%
Toys, scale models, puzzles	$2,478,442,108	$2,352,839,427	$125,602,681	5.34%
Oil, not crude	$2,156,114,617	$1,500,258,778	$655,855,839	43.72%
Parts for arcade, parlor games	$2,073,739,146	$1,151,430,054	$922,309,092	80.10%
Electronic integrated circuits	$1,880,118,586	$2,252,304,295	($372,185,709)	-16.52%