States export series; North Carolina

Business America, Oct 15, 1984

North Carolina, which ranks eleventh among the 50 states in exports of all manufactured products, leads the nation in the export of tobacco products, textile mill products, and furniture.

The state's exports of manufacturers totaled $4.7 billion in 1981, accounting for 3 percent of the nation's total. Those exports soarted 104 percent and outpaced the 52 percent increase in North Carolina's production of manufactures from 1977 to 1981.

North Carolina's $4.7 billion in manufactured exports provided direct employment for an estimated 41,200 workers in 1981. From 1977 to 1981, total employment in manufacturing was up 7 percent, while employment directly related to exports jumped by 41 percent.

An estimated 39,400 jobs were required in the state to manufacture products used by other establishments in the United States as inputs for manufactures that were ultimately exported. Thus, an estimated 80,600 jobs in North Carolina were directly or indirectly dependent on exports of manufactured goods in 1981--about one of every ten manufacturing jobs in the state.

Half of the jobs dependent on manufactured exports were concentrated in the textile mill products, nonelectric machinery, and electric equipment industries. These jobs accounted for one of six jobs in the nonelectric machinery industry, one of seven jobs in the electric equipment industry, and one of ten in the textile mill products industry.

An additional 69,700 jobs were generated in nonmanufacturing industries that supply materials and services supporting manufactured exports. North Carolina's total employment related to manufactured exports in 1981 amounted to 150,300 jobs, the tenth largest among the states.

It is estimated that North Carolina's farm employment related to exports in 1977 amounted to 72,700 or about one out of every three farmers. This estimate assumes that the number of farmers dependent on exports corresponds to the ratio of exports to farm sales in the state. Depending on numerous variables, including the character of the product, mechanization, and degree of intensiveness of farming, it may somewhat understate or overstate the actual number dependent on exports.

North Carolina exports a wide variety of manufacturers. Tobacco manufactures, textile mill products, and chemical products were North Carolina's leading manufactured exports in 1981, together accounting for more than half the total. Foreign sales of nonelectric machinery and electric equipment were alos sizable.

Besides its number one ranking in exports of tobacco manufactures, textile mill products, and furniture, North Carolina ranked sixth in paper products, and eleventh in chemicals. It also was high in exports of rubber/plastics.

Up 48 percent since 1977, exports of cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products totaled $1 billion in 1981. The rise in exports contributed about 15 percent of the increase in the state's production of tobacco manufactures.

Exports of North Carolina textile mill products were valued at $800 million in 1981--one and three-fourths times the 1977 value. Manmade fiber textiles and cotton fabrics accounted for much of the recent shipments. Other export items were yarn, thread, and knitted products. Export growth from 1977 to 1981 was three times as fast as growth in production of textile mill products.

Exports of chemicals in 1981 were valued at $703 million, over four times the 1977 value. The increase in exports from 1977 to 1981 was responsible for almost a third of this North Carolina industry's growth.

The Census Bureau has estimated that export-related manufactures, including materials and parts incorporated in products exported from elsewhere in the nation, accounted for 12.5 percent of North Carolina's manufacturing production. Thus, of the expanded manufacturing output generated between 1977 and 1981, 18 percent--or $1 out of every $6--was due to export-related shipments.

North Carolina's share of U.S. agricultural exports in fiscal year 1982, including some manufactures of farm origin, totaled an estimated $1.2 billion, up 29 percent from the fiscal year 1977 level. The state was the nation's leading tobacco exporter. Foreign sales were valued at $714 million in fiscal year 1982, half of the national total. Soybean shipments worth $195 million were North Carolina's second most valuable export crop. Sales abroad were nearly two times greater in fiscal year 1982 than in fiscal year 1977. Other agricultural commodities exported in substantial amounts were feed grains, wheat and flour, poultry products, and peanuts.

The sharp growth in exports of agricultural products from 1977 to 1982 accounted fro 19 percent of the rise in farm sales and added substantially to the income of North Carolina farmers. In this period, the export contribution to each dollar of the state's farm sales was 30 cents.

North Carolina exported fishery products valued at $14 million in 1981, more than two and a half times the 1977 total. Fresh and frozen fish accounted for $10.3 million of this total. The remainder was fish meal and oil plus a small amount in cured form.