Georgia ag exports totaled $2.78 billion in 2019

May 12, 2021

In 2019, Georgia agricultural producers sold an estimated $2.781 billion worth of commodities in markets outside the United States, according to estimates compiled by the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS). ERS released the estimates on March 26, and 2019 was the most recent year for which data were available.

Georgia ranked in the top 10 among U.S. states’ exports of eight agricultural commodities.

According to ERS data, Georgia’s largest agricultural export in terms of dollar value was cotton, at $695 million, second among U.S. states behind Texas ($2.06 billion).

In “other oilseed products,” which includes peanuts, cottonseed and soybeans, Georgia ranked second at $487.4 million, behind North Dakota ($563.2 million).

Georgia led the nation in exports of poultry broilers ($459.7 million).

Georgia’s exports of tree nuts were estimated at $134.2 million, ranking third.

Georgia ranked fifth in tobacco exports at $29.8 million, sixth in fresh fruits at $64.1 million, sixth in processed fruits at $55.6 million and seventh in “other poultry” at $97 million.

The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) compiles data recorded by the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the State Trade by Country of Origin and Destination data set. Additionally, ERS estimates exports by state based on farm cash receipts for exported products in the State Exports, Cash Receipts Estimates data set. These data sets are generated using different methods and, therefore, may contain contradicting information. The documentation page contains full descriptions and comparison of the methods.

Although a state’s actual agricultural export value cannot be measured directly, ERS estimates state exports of total and selected commodities based on U.S. farm cash receipts data. State shares of U.S. farm receipts are updated annually in calculating state-level international export values. The documentation page describes both the current cash receipts-based method and the discontinued production-based method.

The ERS complete data sets are available at https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/state-agricultural-trade-data/.

Source: Georgia Farm Bureau