Los Angeles is the top ranking U.S. customs district with trade exceeding $393 billion in 2015. Despite being halfway around the world from, India is a Top 10 trading partner with Los Angeles, actually ranking ninth and ahead of Pacific Rim countries such as Australia (#10), Indonesia (#12), and Philippines (#15).
According to US Trade Numbers, Los Angeles traded $9.8 billion with India in 2015, with American exports at $4.1 billion and imports at $5.6 billion.
Top exports to India from the Los Angeles area include
- gold, silver and unmounted diamonds
- telecommunications equipment, including phone and parts
- agricultural products especially tree nuts and cotton
- medical technology, medical devices and instruments
- computers
- petroleum products.
Top Imports from India direct to the Los Angeles customs district include
- jewelry, jewelry parts and diamonds
- seafood
- gasoline
- textiles: linen for bed, bath, kitchen; clothing for men and women
- furniture parts
For India the top five U.S. customs districts are New York with $19.7 billion of trade, Los Angeles with $9.8 billion, Atlanta with $4.2 billion, Houston with $3.9 billion, and Chicago with $3.8 billion in 2015.
If you scan the Los Angeles customs district by commodity, India ranks highly in several categories. For example India is the largest recipient of diamonds from Los Angeles, exceeding such famous destinations for these stones as Israel and Belgium. For gold exports, India is third, ahead of the United Kingdom, China, Canada and Mexico. India is the sixth largest recipient of cotton from the Los Angeles district, ahead of Taiwan, Pakistan, Japan, Germany, Spain, Bangladesh and Egypt.
Technical products
In phone equipment, India ranks fifth and receives more American exports than Taiwan, Mexico, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and Brazil! For medical devices, India is ranked ninth, which is ahead of France, the United Kingdom and Taiwan. For computers, India ranked #13 in the year 2015 for exports from the Los Angeles area.
The Upshot
Trade between Los Angeles and India will continue to rise disproportionately compared to U.S. trade overall. We expect this trend to continue at least until 2025.
