Chavda Law Group is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's India Channel. Subscribe here for monthly India newsletters.
More than a third of U.S. cotton exports leave from Savannah, with textile manufacturing hubs in South Asia being the top destination for the commodity, the Georgia Ports Authority announced in mid-December.
Some 37 percent of cotton sold abroad passes through Savannah, which sees “natural demand” being located in the second largest cotton-producing state but also benefits from extensive rail access designed to smooth exports from around the South, GPA officials said.
India, Bangladesh and Turkey are primary recipients, with much of the cotton returning to the U.S. in finished garments cut and sewn in these countries. Bangladesh took $62 million in “other crops” from Georgia in 2024, a category that includes cotton, peanuts, hay and other commodities, according to U.S. data. India’s imports from Georgia were $18 million and Turkey’s $116 million in this sector. Since last year, U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a surge in U.S. cotton purchases from markets beyond China as textile producers diversify in other markets. Cotton exports to Vietnam more than doubled to 3 million bales in the year leading up to August.
In other sectors, India has been a boon for the Georgia ports, with the world’s most populous nation serving as the fastest-growing container import market for the state for years until Vietnam supplanted it in 2025.
According to a Global Atlanta analysis of the state’s trade with India, cotton exports would do little to ameliorate the large deficit that Georgia runs a large deficit with the country ($1.2 billion in exports to $4.2 billion in imports). But exports in agriculture, the state’s largest industry, carry significance politically from an employment standpoint.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump unveiled a $12 billion aid package designed to offset losses farmers incurred as a result of other countries’ measures to fight back against U.S. tariffs.