North Carolina

North Carolina Exports & Foreign Investment

 

In 2023, North Carolina exported a record $42.2 billion of goods to the world.  In 2021, exports from North Carolina supported an estimated 128 thousand jobs.

 

Exports from North Carolina and Jobs

• North Carolina was the 14^th largest state exporter of goods in 2023.
• In 2023, North Carolina goods exports were $42.2 billion, an increase of 44 percent ($13 billion) from its export level in 2013 (latest data available).
• Goods exports accounted for 5.5 percent of North Carolina GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• North Carolina goods exports in 2021 (latest data available) supported an estimated 128 thousand jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from North Carolina and Jobs

• In 2023, North Carolina exported $40.0 billion of manufactured products.
• North Carolina exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 116 thousand jobs in 2021 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is chemicals, which accounted for $15.0 billion of North Carolina's total goods exports in 2023.
• Other top manufacturing exports are machinery, except electrical ($4.8 billion), transportation equipment ($3.6 billion), computer and electronic products ($2.6 billion), and electrical equipment, appliances and components ($1.9 billion).

 

Exports Sustain Thousands of North Carolina Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 11,115 companies exported from North Carolina locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 9,646 (87 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
•  Small and medium-sized firms generated 21.9 percent of North Carolina's total exports of goods in 2022.

 

North Carolina Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. North Carolina exported $7.7 billion in goods to Canada in 2023, representing 18 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by China ($5.8 billion), Mexico ($5.4 billion), France ($2.1 billion), and Netherlands ($1.2 billion).
• North Carolina’s exports to major world areas included:

 

 

• 42 percent of North Carolina’s goods exports ($17.9 billion) in 2023 went to current FTA partners. 

Agriculture in North Carolina depends on Exports

• North Carolina is the country’s 14^th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $4.5 billion in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2022 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).^[1]
• Top Agricultural exports were:

 

 

International Investment Creates Jobs in North Carolina

• In 2021 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 303,600 North Carolina workers. Major sources of foreign investment in North Carolina included Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan. 
• Foreign investment in North Carolina was responsible for 7.7 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2021.

North Carolina’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2022 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in North Carolina recorded goods exports: Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia ($12.2 billion), Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News ($5.8 billion), Raleigh-Cary ($4.7 billion), Durham-Chapel Hill ($4.1 billion), Greensboro-High Point ($2.4 billion), Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton ($1.3 billion), Greenville ($1.2 billion), Rocky Mount ($1.1 billion), Winston-Salem ($1 billion), Asheville ($921.2 million), Wilmington ($593.6 million), Burlington ($342.8 million), Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach ($325.2 million), New Bern ($324 million), Fayetteville ($320.5 million), and Goldsboro ($115 million).