It is estimated that North Carolina's farm employment related to exports in 1977 amounted to 72,700 or about one out of every three farmers. This estimate assumes that the number of farmers dependent on exports corresponds to the ratio of exports to farm sales in the state. Depending on numerous variables, including the character of the product, mechanization, and degree of intensiveness of farming, it may somewhat understate or overstate the actual number dependent on exports.
North Carolina exports a wide variety of manufacturers. Tobacco manufactures, textile mill products, and chemical products were North Carolina's leading manufactured exports in 1981, together accounting for more than half the total. Foreign sales of nonelectric machinery and electric equipment were alos sizable.
Besides its number one ranking in exports of tobacco manufactures, textile mill products, and furniture, North Carolina ranked sixth in paper products, and eleventh in chemicals. It also was high in exports of rubber/plastics.
Up 48 percent since 1977, exports of cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products totaled $1 billion in 1981. The rise in exports contributed about 15 percent of the increase in the state's production of tobacco manufactures.
Exports of North Carolina textile mill products were valued at $800 million in 1981--one and three-fourths times the 1977 value. Manmade fiber textiles and cotton fabrics accounted for much of the recent shipments. Other export items were yarn, thread, and knitted products. Export growth from 1977 to 1981 was three times as fast as growth in production of textile mill products.
