Global Trade • January February 2023 • TOP 25 FOREIGN-TRADE ZONES

The 83rd annual report of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board to the U.S. Congress, which was printed in August 2022, states more than 480,000 people were employed within 1,200 active FTZ operations during 2021. The value of shipments into zones exceeded $835 billion, compared with nearly $625 billion the previous year.

About 65% of the shipments received at zones involved domestic status merchandise. The levels of domestic status merchandise used by FTZ operations–77% for production operations and 49% for warehouse/distribution operations–indicates that FTZ activity tends to involve domestic operations that include significant domestic inputs alongside foreign inputs, according to the report.

Warehouse/distribution operations received nearly $370 billion in merchandise while production operations received more than $465 billion, representing 56% of zone activity.

The largest industries accounting for zone production activity include the pharmaceutical, oil refining, automotive, electronics, and machinery/ equipment sectors. Exports from facilities operating under FTZ procedures amounted to more than $123 billion. (The export figures do not include certain indirect exports involving FTZ merchandise that undergoes further processing in the U.S. at non-FTZ sites prior to export.)

The report includes lists of the Top 25 zones and their locations for FTZ merchandise received and exported during the year.

Charts Courtesy of the 83rd annual report of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board to the Congress of the United States