Top US export: Waste paper

Aug. 12, 2008
Manufacturing & Technology News ran an interesting item recently. They collected information about the top US imports and exports. It turns out our number-one export by volume is waste paper. Of course, this is nothing new.

Manufacturing & Technology News ran an interesting item recently. They collected information about the top US imports and exports. It turns out our number-one export by volume is waste paper. Of course, this is nothing new. Waste paper has been our top export for some time. Also interesting is their list of top importers. And here are the two lists:

Top 50 U.S. Importers Via Ocean Container Transport — 2007

as measured in 20-foot-equivalent container units or TEUs:

The first number listed for each company is the number of TEUs imported in 2007, followed by 2004 and 2002. NR means the company was not on the top 100 list for that year. SOURCE: Journal of Commerce and the Port Import/Export Reporting Service (PIERS).

1. Wal-Mart Stores, retail, 720,000, 576,000, 291,900

2. Target Corp., retail, 435,000 202,700, 173,100

3. The Home Depot, retail, 365,300, 301,200, 182,000

4. Sears (includes K-Mart), retail, 248,600, 186,000, 60,400

5. Dole Food, food, 223,200, 164,100, 142,900

6. Costco Wholesale, retail, 183,800, 66,400, 19,382

7. Lowes Cos., retail, 182,100, 100,000, 82,900

8. LG Group, conglomerate, 130,000, 43,300, 33,500

9. Philips Electronics, electronics, 127,200, 27,200, 22,000

10. Chiquita Brands Intl., food, 116,300, 115,600, 103,200

11. General Electric, conglomerate, 112,900, 51,800, 48,500

12. Ashley Furniture Inds., furniture, 104,700, 69,800, 45,200

13. Heineken USA, beverages, 104,300, 83,400, 75,000

14. Ikea Intl., retail, 102,000, 100,000, 44,700

15. Jarden Corp., appliances, 74,700, 21,800, 14,600

16. Red Bull, beverages, 72,500, 20,400, NR

17. JC Penny Corp. 68,400, 45,000, NR

18. Whirlpool, appliances, 67,300, 26,800, NR

19. Canon, computers, 66,400, 26,200, 220,000

20. Nike, footwear & apparel, 62,700, 47,900, 38,700

21. Williams Sonoma, retail, 62,400, 50,000, 19,200

22. Gap Stores, retail, 59,300, 14,800, 12,000

23. Toyota Tsusho America, autos, 58,800, 52,000, 45,000

24. Bridgestone Americas, tires, 52,300, 42,500, 26,800

25. Dollar General, retail, 51,000, 40,000, NR

26. Samsung, electronics, 50,800, 52,800, 46,200

27. Pier 1 Imports, retail, 49,600, 48,100, 46,700

28. Mattel, toys, 48,900, 49,300, 43,700

29. Sony Corp., conglomerate, 46,900, 47,100, 40,000

30. Big Lots, liquidator-retail, 46,600, 36,300, 45,800

31. Daimler AG, autos, 46,500, 14,600, 14,200

32. Family Dollar Stores, retail, 44,600, 19,300, 10,000

33. Panasonic Corp., electronics, 43,300, 52,100, 41,500

34. Furniture Brands Intl., furniture, 42,700, NR, NR

35. Kohl's Corp., retail, 42,400, NR, NR

36. Nestle, food & beverages, 40,400, 28,500, 14,300

37. Dorel Industries, furniture, 39,900, 28,700, NR

38. Michelin, tires & rubber, 38,700, 46,100, 34,500

39. Staples, retail, 32,800, 13,200, NR

40. Yamaha, transportation mfg., 32,000, 27,300, 24,600

41. Del Monte Foods, food, 32,000, 32,400, 12,600

42. Nissan North America, autos, 31,800, 27,700, 16,500

43. American Honda, autos, 30,900, 10,300, 46,200

44. Michaels Stores, retail, 30,600, 27,100, 14,600

45. Hewlett-Packard, computers, 29,700, NR, NR

46. Coaster of America, furniture, 29,500, 13,300, NR

47. Hankook Tire Americas, tires, 28,800, 20,400, NR

48. CVS Corp., retail, 28,000, 10,200, 16,000

49. BMW, autos, 27,400, 14,200, 14,000

50. Rooms to Go, retail, 27,200, 24,200, 19,800

Top 100 U.S. Exporters Via Ocean Container Transport -- 2007

As measured in 20-foot-equivalent container units or TEUs The first number is the number of TEUs exported in 2007, followed by TEUs exported in 2004 and 2002. NR means the company was not on the list of top 100 for that year. SOURCE: Journal of Commerce and the Port Import/Export Reporting Service.

1. American Chung Nam, wastepaper, 211,300, 201,100, 156,500

2. Weyerhaeuser, forest products/paper, 165,800, 154,900 95,600

3. Cargill, food, 123,800, 80,600 51,200

4. Koch Industries, paper, 123,400, 29,100, NR

5. International Paper, paper, 100,900, 42,700, 50,100

6. Dow Chemical, chemicals, 100,000, 64,700, 52,400

7. DuPont, chemicals, 93,100, 123,000, 104,000

8. MeadWestvaco, paper, 77,900, 66,800, 59,000

9. P&G, consumer products, 73,800, 54,200,48,000

10. Archer Daniels Midland, food, 73,300, 32,300, 17,700

11. Potential Industries, wastepaper, 70,800, 22,300, 11,500

12. Newport CH Intl., paper, steel recyclables, 69,700, NR, NR

13. Sims Metal Mgmt., metals, recyclables, 69,600, NR, NR

14. Cedarwood-Young, wastepaper, 64,900, 38,600, 21,000

15. CGB Enterprises, agriculture, 57,500, NR, NR

16. ExxonMobil Chemical, chemicals, 56,500, 44,300, 28,700

17. Cellmark Group, paper, 54,200, 56,700, 45,100

18. JC Horizon, waste paper, 53,000, 28,700, 25,400

19. BASF, chemicals, 52,500, 50,200, 38,500

20. Mega Fiber, waste paper, 44,300, NR, NR

21. Denison Intl., recycled paper, 43,400, NR, NR

22. DaimlerAG, autos, 41,700, 50,100, 47,000

23. General Electric, conglomerate, 41,200, 50,000, 44,400

24. Toyota Tsusho, autos/parts, 40,900, 28,100, 13,100

25. Allenberg Cotton, cotton, 39,800, 45,900, 21,200

26. AbitibiBowater, paper, 39,000, 18,900, 9,300

27. Caterpillar, machinery, 37,300,. 23,500, 19,200

28. Wal-Mart Stores, retail, 36,400, NR, NR

29. Rayonier, paper & forest products, 35,500, 31,700, 26,900

30. Mitsui, conglomerate, 34,900, 24,300, 24,300

31. Eastman Chemical, chemicals, 34,800, 37,900, 21,500

32. Staple Cotton Coop. Assn., 33,200, NR, NR

33. Schoular Co., foodstuffs, 33,100, NR, NR

34. Shintech, chemicals, 32,900, 22,300, 29,500

35. Yao Yang Enterprises, wastepaper, 32,700, 29,400, 20,600

36. Sino Paper, recycled paper, 32,300, NR, NR

37. Tyson Foods, food, 31,300, 19,600, 44,100

38. Itochu Specialty Chemicals, chemicals, 30,900, 26,700, NR

39. Rio Tinto America, minerals, 28,900, 18,500, NR

40. Kimberly Clark, consumer goods, 28,400, 23,900, NR

40. Delong, animal feed, 28,400, NR, NR

40. International Forest Products, paper, 28,400, 20,000, NR

43. 3M, chemicals, 28,300, 16,800, 14,500

44. Goodyear Tire & Rubber, tires, 27,300, 21,600, 19,000

44. Dunavant Enterprises, cotton, 27,300, 32,600, 22,700

46. Paul Reinhart, cotton, 27,000, NR, NR

47. Ford Motor, autos, 26,800, 30,200, 32,300

47. Mills Brothers Intl., food/grain, 26,800, 17,900, NR

49. Fruit of the Loom, textiles, 26,300, 16,900, NR

50. ConAgra Foods, food, 25,900, 27,400, 42,200

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