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Georgia’s exports declined by 6 percent to $38.8 billion in 2020, though the state outperformed the the U.S. average in a topsy-turvy year for global trade.
The decline followed years of steady Georgia export growth, capped by a record year in 2019 that came on a modest increase.
In 2020, the pandemic swept the globe like a slow-moving storm, interrupting supply chains and causing fits and starts on the path to a recovery that still has not fully materialized. China, first hit by the COVID-19, posted 6.5 percent GDP growth in the final quarter of the year, becoming the only major economy to post positive annual growth after having largely contained the disease.
The resulting vitality, mixed with commitments to purchase goods and food through the so-called Phase One trade deal signed by the Trump administration last January, boosted Georgia’s trade with the country by 41 percent to $3.4 billion, making China the No. 3 export market behind Canada and Germany.
Most of the increase in China sales came from two of the state’s signature sectors: agriculture and automotive.
Exports of Georgia farm goods to China more than tripled to $362 million, partially thanks to China’s reopening of the market to U.S. poultry. Tree nut exports (think Georgia pecans) also more than do ubled to $47 million, according to U.S. Commerce Department figures.
Car sales from Georgia to China went from just $2 million in 2019 to more than $663 million in 2020. It was unclear immediately whether that included cars made in Georgia — at the Kia plant, say — or just shipped through its ports. (BMW SUVs made in South Carolina, for instance, are popular in China, and Brunswick, Ga. has one of the largest automotive ports in the country.) Georgia auto part sales to China more than doubled to $47 million.
Georgia’s export sales to Germany also saw a massive increase, rising by nearly 48 percent to $4.1 billion. Pretty much all of that increase also came from cars, which went from $28.4 million in 2019 to $1.3 billion in 2020.
Among the other top-10 export markets for the state, all declined by double digits except No. 9 Hong Kong (a 41 percent increase) and No. 10 Belgium (up 6.7 percent).
Georgia for the first time became the 10th largest exporting state, cracking the top 10 for the first time as the U.S. saw its largest export decrease on record: a drop of 15.7 percent.
Total trade in Georgia — including imports — dropped about 4 percent to $137.7 billion.
Georgia Ports recorded 1.8 percent container growth in 2020, driven largely by a healthy export business.
See the full Georgia Department of Economic Development report here.
