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Top U.S. Companies by Import and Export Volume

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top u.s. import export companies

Nothing has transformed our economy quite like containerized shipping.

From Rotterdam to Singapore, we see tangible evidence of the world’s bustling maritime shipping network as cranes load and unload uniform containers in a flurry of activity. The efficiency of this system has massively impacted the global economy, but this uniformity has also had the unintended consequence of anonymizing shipping. From the outside looking in, there’s no indication of who’s actually doing the shipping.

Today’s graphic, using data from JOC, highlights the actual companies behind the United States’ import–export numbers.

Outgoing: Recyclables and Raw Materials

While companies like Procter & Gamble and Caterpillar export a high volume of consumer goods and equipment, the export market is dominated by bulk materials, natural resources, and chemicals.

Here are the top 20 companies by export volume (20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs):

RankCompanyTEU (2017)Sector
1America Chung Nam284,500📄 Paper
♻️ Recyclables
2International Paper248,400📄 Paper
📦 Packaging
3Ralison International130,100📄 Paper
♻️ Recyclables
4Koch Industries120,800💼 Conglomerate
5International Forest Products109,400🌲 Paper/Forest Products
♻️ Recyclables
6DeLong106,600🐮 Animal Feed
🌾 Grain
7WM Recycle America75,300💼 Diversified
♻️ Recyclables
8Shintech73,800🛢 Chemicals
9Louis Dreyfus Commodities68,200⚪️ Cotton
💼 Diversified
10WestRock66,300📄 Paper
📦 Packaging
11JBS USA65,400🍖 Meats
🍗 Poultry
12ExxonMobil Chemical63,400🛢 Chemicals
13Newport CH International62,100♻️ Recyclables
14BMW of North America61,600🚘 Automotive Goods
15Cargill57,500💼 Conglomerate
16JC Horizon55,600♻️ Recyclables
17Eastman Chemical53,800🛢 Chemicals/Plastics
18Potential Industries51,600📄 Paper
♻️ Recyclables
19Domtar48,100🌲 Paper/Forest Products
20Sims Metal Management47,700⚙️ Metals
♻️ Recyclables

Note: TEU = Twenty-foot equivalent unit, a measure of volume in units of twenty-foot long shipping containers.

Though exporters of recyclable materials feature prominently on this list, there may be a shake-up coming in the near future.

China’s Recycling Diet

In Western countries, people often assume that their top export by volume is a high-value manufactured good or, at very least, a natural resource like timber or oil. The truth is, a sizable portion of exports from Western countries are waste materials.

This isn’t a new trend. In 2009, nine of the top 20 exporters in the U.S. were sending recyclable materials overseas – particularly to China.

This convenient trade relationship, where ships bring consumer goods to America and return filled with recyclable materials, is being disrupted in a big way. In 2018, China launched Operation National Sword, which could potentially tie a knot in the steady pipeline of waste materials being imported into the country.

For now, countries like Vietnam and Thailand have picked up some of the slack, but before long, Western countries will need to take a serious look at beefing up domestic recycling programs.

Incoming: The Stuff We Buy

On the other end of the equation are the consumer goods that get purchased every day.

In modern society, there’s a very good chance the items around you right now were not built in the country you live in. While many companies import goods from overseas, a few major players move a staggering volume of goods through America’s ports.

Here are the top 20 companies by import volume (TEUs):

RankCompanyTEUs (2017)Sector
1Walmart874,800🛒 Retail
2Target590,300🛒 Retail
3Home Depot388,000🛒 Retail
4Lowe's287,500🛒 Retail
5Dole Food220,200🍍 Produce
6Samsung America184,800💼 Conglomerate
7Family Dollar / Dollar Tree168,400🛒 Retail
8LG Group161,600💼 Conglomerate
9Philips Electronics N.A.142,900📺 Electronics
10IKEA International120,500🛒 Retail
11Chiquita Brands Int'l117,500🍌 Produce
12Nike116,300👞 Footwear / Apparel
13Newell Brands115,400🍶 Outdoor / Home Goods
14Costco Wholesale111,700🛒 Retail
15Sears Holdings103,200🛒 Retail
16J.C. Penney101,100🛒 Retail
17General Electric92,300💼 Conglomerate
18Ashley Furniture Industries85,700🛋 Furniture
19Whirlpool74,700🗄 Appliances
20Heineken USA73,100🍺 Beverages

In contrast to the top exporters list, the top importing companies are generally more recognizable names, such as Target, Home Depot, Dollar Tree, and Ikea.

It will come as no surprise that Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer by some margin, is also America’s top importer. In a single year, Walmart’s incoming goods would equate to nearly 50 of the industry’s largest fully-loaded cargo ships.

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Will Tesla Lose Its Spot in the Magnificent Seven?

We visualize the recent performance of the Magnificent Seven stocks, uncovering a clear divergence between the group’s top and bottom names.

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Will Tesla Lose Its Spot in the Magnificent Seven?

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

In this graphic, we visualize the year-to-date (YTD) performance of the “Magnificent Seven”, a leading group of U.S. tech stocks that gained prominence in 2023 as the replacement of FAANG stocks.

All figures are as of March 12, 2024, and are listed in the table below.

RankCompanyYTD Change (%)
1Nvidia90.8
2Meta44.3
3Amazon16.9
4Microsoft12
5Google0.2
6Apple-6.7
7Tesla-28.5

From these numbers, we can see a clear divergence in performance across the group.

Nvidia and Meta Lead

Nvidia is the main hero of this show, setting new all-time highs seemingly every week. The chipmaker is currently the world’s third most valuable company, with a valuation of around $2.2 trillion. This puts it very close to Apple, which is currently valued at $2.7 trillion.

The second best performer of the Magnificent Seven has been Meta, which recently re-entered the trillion dollar club after falling out of favor in 2022. The company saw a massive one-day gain of $197 billion on Feb 2, 2024.

Apple and Tesla in the Red

Tesla has lost over a quarter of its value YTD as EV hype continues to fizzle out. Other pure play EV stocks like Rivian and Lucid are also down significantly in 2024.

Meanwhile, Apple shares have struggled due to weakening demand for its products in China, as well as the company’s lack of progress in the artificial intelligence (AI) space.

Investors may have also been disappointed to hear that Apple’s electric car project, which started a decade ago, has been scrapped.

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