2025 Top 100 Importers & Exporters

With almost all US production concentrated in the Gulf Coast region, resin traders and distributors heavily rely on Houston as their main export gateway. Houston handled about 41.8 % of US chemical exports last year and has seen shipments increase at an average annual rate of 6.8 % over the last five years, according to PIERS.

“ The resin business has already outgrown Houston. There’ s just not enough capacity.”

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach still occupy the no. 2 spot for exports thanks to their proximity to China and high capacity. Even so, chemical exports out of the busiest US port complex have been in decline as shippers seek less congested gateways with easier rail access.

Houston’ s long-term export growth rates nearly match those now of the ports of Charleston and Savannah, the third and fourth busiest export gateways for US chemicals in 2024. The two ports’ continued growth follows millions in investments to set up nearby warehouses and facilities for packaging resins into shipping containers.

‘ Outgrowing’ the Gulf

An ocean logistics manager for a global resins distributor and trader told the Journal of Commerce that an increasing share of its exports are moving through Southeast ports thanks to the diversity of container services and routes for exports. While Houston still has a solid lead in north-south shipments, bigger vessels calling the Southeast allow more capacity on east-west trades.

“ We have been sending more rail cars to Savannah,” he said. The company is moving cargoes destined for Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean, or African through Savannah and those headed to Latin America through Houston, the source added.

Houston is working to add vessel capacity through Project 11, which entails widening and dredging the port’ s ship channel. Ships will have bi-directional navigation on the channel, allowing for faster berth calls. But with the channel’ s depth at around 46 feet, larger post-Panamax vessels will still be somewhat limited in their ability to call Houston.

“ The resin business has already outgrown Houston,” the

Chemicals

EXPORTS

1,961,807 TEUS

↑1.2 %

Change from 2023

↑2.1 %

5-year compound annual growth rate

Forest product export rebound unlikely to repeat amid tariff war

By Ari Ashe

Hopes that US paper and forest product exports will see another year of growth for the second time in decade were fraying even before the biggest buyer, China, slapped 125 % tariffs on inbound shipments.

In March, the Chinese government suspended imports of US logs due to the detection of“ forest pests such as bark beetles and longhorn beetles” in shipments. Then, the escalating back-and-forth tariffs by the US and China in April battered the industry.

“ All of our clients have had their Chinese orders either canceled going forward or everything on the water has been rerouted to Vietnam or back to the US, so it’ s a bit of a bloodbath right now; it’ s brutal,” said Stephen Zambo, CEO of AGL Group, a forwarder specializing in paper and forest products.

While Vietnam has absorbed some of the redirected volume, Zambo said the country lacks the infrastructure and consumer demand to match China’ s appetite for US forest products used in its own internal construction and homebuilding.

Total containerized export volumes grew 5.3 % year over year in 2024, led by an 18 % jump in shipments from Savannah, which handles nearly one third of all outbound paper and forest products, according to PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce by S & P Global. However, those results came after several consecutive annual declines that left volumes 31.5 % lower than in 2019. Mainland China accounted for 29.1 % of US paper and forest product exports last year, followed by India( 7.4 %), Vietnam( 6.2 %) and Japan( 3.9 %).

Paper and forest products

EXPORTS

692,560 TEUS

↓5.3 %

Change from 2023

↓7.3 %

5-year compound annual growth rate

48 Journal of Commerce | May 5, 2025 www. joc. com