ALTHOUGH EXPORTS TO CANADA SLIPPED BY 3.2% THE FIRST QUARTER OF THIS YEAR IN COMPARISON TO LAST YEAR, IT REMAINED GEORGIA’S LEADING EXPORT DESTINATION. JAPAN, GERMANY AND THE UNITED KINGDOM RANKED SECOND, THIRD AND FOURTH AS EXPORT DESTINATIONS FOR THE QUARTER, ACCORDING TO THE MOST RECENT WACHOVIA FIGURES.
MEXICO, AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, TAIWAN, THE NETHERLANDS AND HONG KONG WERE RESPECTIVELY THE FIFTH THROUGH TENTH LEADING EXPORT DESTINATIONS FOR THE QUARTER.
KOREA REVERSED ITS LARGE INCREASE OF A YEAR AGO, ACCORDING TO WACHOVIA, WITH PURCHASES TOTALING $55 MILLION, OFF 66% FROM THE 1995 QUARTER.
MEANWHILE, EXPORTS OF INDUSTRIAL MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT REMAINED GEORGIA’S TOP EXPORT SECTOR, RISING 14% IN THE FIRST QUARTER TO $449 MILLION, OR NEARLY ONE OF EVERY SEVEN DOLLARS EARNED IN THE STATE FROM EXPORTS.
GEORGIA’S EXPORTS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER WERE ESTIMATED AT $3.03 BILLION, UP 5% FROM 1995’S FIRST QUARTER, WHILE IMPORTS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER WERE ESTIMATED AT $3.15 MILLION, UP 9.9% FROM THE PRIOR YEAR’S LEVEL.
WACHOVIA ESTIMATED THAT GEORGIA’S TRADE DEFICIT FOR THE QUARTER WAS $121 MILLION.
GEORGIA RANKED FIRST NATIONALLY IN EXPORTS OF PAPER/PULP SHIPMENTS, WHICH WAS THE STATE’S SECOND LARGEST EXPORT SECTOR, WITH TOTAL SALES OF $368 MILLION IN THE QUARTER.
GEORGIA RANKED SECOND NATIONALLY BEHIND VIRGINIA IN EXPORTS OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS, WHICH DECREASED 6% TO $218 MILLION. TOBACCO IS THE STATE’S SIXTH LARGEST EXPORT SECTOR.
TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT, ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT AND CHEMICALS AND ALLIED PRODUCTS, INCLUDING PHARMACEUTICALS, REPRESENTED GEORGIA’S THIRD, FOURTH AND FIFTH LARGEST EXPORT CATEGORIES, RESPECTIVELY.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL JOHN MARSH AT (404) 332-4237.