PDF: 2962 pages, 5.2 MB - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

Global Reach
by a state-owned phone company that, in turn, leases the game from an offshore Mauritius content
provider that licenses it from a California game developer.
Even in cases where such transactions might be captured in trade data, for the purpose of measuring
actual economic impact, the precise point where value is generated in the transaction
remains elusive.
That having been said, it is possible to use data to identify trade trends as long as the limitations
of the data are understood.
The Flow of Goods Increases
Two-way U.S.-India trade has grown steadily during this decade, reaching $44.3 billion in 2008,
up from $41.6 billion in 2007 and $31.9 billion in 2006. The U.S. has historically been India’s
largest trading partner, until 2008, when China-India trade posted 34% growth to $51.8 billion.
The U.S. has run a consistent trade deficit with India, peaking in 2006 but declining over the past
two years.
Two-way merchandise trade with India moving through the San Francisco Bay Area Customs
District in 2008 topped $966 million in value, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. It included
$336.9 million in imports and $629.1 million in exports moving via conventional air and
sea cargo transport, plus a small percentage of goods carried in other ways, such as by tourists, or
moving inbound through another gateway such as Southern California and then trucked to the
Bay Area before clearing customs.
Two-way commerce in goods has risen steadily in recent years, imports dipped slightly in 2005,
and overall, the San Francisco Bay region has consistently maintained a healthy trade surplus
with India.
San Francisco Bay Area Merchandise Trade with India ($ millions)
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Air imports $65.5 $73.0 $65.7 $66.2 $82.0
Sea imports $208.4 $198.9 $262.0 $263.0 $254.4
Air exports $238.1 $227.6 $241.9 $321.9 $314.4
Sea exports $155.2 $173.0 $203.8 $295.3 $313.8
Total imports $275.1 $272.8 $328.1 $329.4 $336.9
Total exports $393.5 $404.4 $447.1 $617.8 $629.1
Total trade $668.6 $677.2 $775.2 $947.2 $966.0
Numbers may not add up due to rounding and due to small amounts of exports and imports carried
via methods of transport (e.g., by tourists or through different routes) not recorded in the air and
sea transport data collection process.
Source: U.S. Census
68