The United States of America’s most highly populated state, California imported a total US$395.9 billion worth of products in 2020.

That dollar amount represents a -3% decline from 2019 to 2020 and a -10% drop over the 4-year period starting in 2017.

California’s total spending on imports equals 16.4% of the overall amount spent on products imported into the United States during 2020. Overall US imports cost $2.407 trillion for 2020.

Given California’s population of 39.7 million people, its total $395.9 billion for purchasing imported goods in 2020 translates to $9,986 for each resident of “The Golden State”.

California’s Leading Imports (NAIC)

Based on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) classifications, California’s spending on computers and electronic products represent over one quarter (28.6%) of the state’s total imports by value. That trend is unsurprising given that 93% of households in California own computers, according to 2019 data from the United States Census Bureau.

Other leading imports for California organized under NAIC classifications are transportation equipment (13.6%), electrical equipment, appliances and components (6.8%), miscellaneous manufactured commodities (6.1%), machinery excluding electrical (5%) and apparel or accessories (4.3%).

California’s Leading Imports (HTS)

At the more detailed 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level, California’s most valuable imported products are: mid-sized automobiles powered by piston engine; small portable digital computers; computer parts or accessories; crude petroleum oils; and modems or similar reception and transmission devices.

Most of the above detailed imports encompass consumer products. One notable exception is crude oil, a commodity which must be refined before purchase by consumers.

California’s Top Consumer Imports

Listed below are the top imported final products that are typically used by consumers.

The product descriptions shown correspond with those at the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level.

1. Mid-sized automobiles (piston engine): $19.8 billion (5% of California’s total imports)
2. Small portable digital computers: $18.7 billion (4.7%)
3. Computer parts and accessories: $11.4 billion (2.9%)
4. Modems, similar reception/transmission devices: $10.5 billion (2.6%)
5. Cell phones: $8.47 billion (2.1%)
6. Miscellaneous textile items: $8.1 billion (2%)
7. Large automobiles (piston engine): $5.5 billion (1.4%)
8. Color TV reception equipment: $4.9 billion (1.2%)
9. Wheeled toys (tricycles, scooters, pedal cars, doll carriages): $4.8 billion (1.2%)
10. Small automobiles (piston engine): $4.4 billion (1.1%)
11. Small gas-powered trucks: $3.4 billion (0.9%)
12. Miscellaneous petroleum oils: $3.1 billion (0.8%)
13. Cameras (digital, video, TV): $3.1 billion (0.8%)

Combined, California’s top 13 imported consumer products represent 26.7% of the overall value of the state’s total imported goods.

From 2019 to 2020, importers in California increased their purchases of miscellaneous textile goods at the fastest pace via a 657.9% gain.

In second place for higher growth year over year were imported computer parts and accessories (up 37.3%), color television reception equipment (up 26.3%), small portable digital computers (up 23.7%), digital, video and television cameras (up 3.2%) and wheeled toys including tricycles, scooters and carriages (up 3%).

Leading the decliners year over year among these consumer-oriented imported products are miscellaneous petroleum oils (down -41.8%), cell phones (down -28.5%), small gas-powered trucks (down -28.4%), mid-sized automobiles with piston engines (down -21.2%) and large automobiles with piston engines (down -13.7%).

Main Suppliers for California’s Imports

For an international trade context, California imported about four-fifths (80.4%) worth of the total value of its products from the top 10 international suppliers below.

1. China $130.3 billion (32.9% of California’s total imports)
2. Mexico $47.9 billion (12.1%)
3. Canada $26.5 billion (6.7%)
4. South Korea $21.1 billion (5.3%)
5. Japan $20.4 billion (5.1%)
6. Vietnam $20.2 billion (5.1%)
7. Taiwan $20 billion (5%)
8. Thailand $12.2 billion (3.1%)
9. Malaysia $10.6 billion (2.7%)
10. Germany $9.6 billion (2.4%)

About three-fifths (59.2%) of California’s spending on imported goods were collected by leading suppliers in 7 Asian countries. California imported another 18.8% worth was imported from top North American trade partners Mexico and Canada.

See also

More great research: Florida’s Most Valuable Imported Consumer Products, Sri Lanka’s 100 Top Imported Consumer Products by Sales, Bangladesh’s 100 Most Valuable Imported Consumer Products, United Kingdom’s Top 100 Imported Consumer Products, Saudi Arabia’s 100 Main Imported Consumer Products by Sales, Chile’s 100 Most Valuable Imported Consumer Products

References

Independent insights and analysis presented in this article are based on researched facts and statistics sourced from the following educational portals.

Department of Numbers, California GDP (dollars shown in real terms).

Forbes, The World’s Biggest Public Companies.

International Trade Centre, Trade Map.

IPL, States Ranked by Size & Population.

Pixabay, California bear flag map..

United States Census Bureau, Foreign Trade (State by 6-Digit HS Code), QuickFacts: California and USA Trade Online.

Wikipedia, California.

Wikipedia, List of states and territories of the United States by population.