Sectors of Economy

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in growing crops, raising animals, harvesting timber, and harvesting fish and other animals on a farm, ranch, or from their natural habitats.

In 2008 agriculture accounted for 1.2% of the US GDP. The American major crops and products are wheat, corn, other grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish; forest products.

The US remains the leading world exporter of wheat, maize and soybeans and its meat exports grow steadily. The EU and the US are the world’s biggest cheese producers, accounting for almost 70% of production. The US is the largest producer and consumer of poultry and meat products. Grains and animal products account for two thirds of the export gains.

Asia continues to be an important growth market for US agricultural commodities.

Global biofuels production has expanded rapidly in recent years, playing an increasingly important role in the cereals, oils and sugar markets and appears set to continue on this growth path. The market is dominated by ethanol, which grew threefold from 2000 to 2007, mainly in the US (world leader with production of 30 billion litres) and Brazil (19 billion litres).

Manufacturing. The USA is the leading manufacturer in the world, highly diversified and technologically advanced. Main industries are petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining.

The US by far remains the world’s leading manufacturer by value of goods produced. It hit a record $1.6 trillion in 2007. In 2007 the US sold more than $200 billion worth of aircraft, missiles and space-related equipment, $80 billion worth of automobiles and auto parts. Deere & Co., best known for its bright green and yellow tractors, sold $16.5 billion worth of farming equipment, much of it to the rest of the world. There are also such energy products as gas turbines for power plants made by General Electric, computer chips from Intel and fighter jets from Lockheed Martin among leading US categories of products. Household names such as GE, General Motors, IBM, Boeing, Hewlett-Packard are among the largest manufacturers by revenue.

The private non-good producing industries account for approximately 70% of total economic activity in the US. These industries include financial services, retail trade, wholesale trade, and the service industries, government services, transportation, entertainment, tourism, etc.

The US service sector is the largest sector in the economy and accounts for an increasingly significant share of GDP. Both in the US, as well as in other industrialized nations, the service sector is a dynamic component of economic activity and growth. It includes a wide variety of businesses: Truck Transportation, Messenger Services and Warehousing; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Rental and Leasing Services; Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; Health Care and Social Assistance, etc. Government services play a major role in the economy.

The United States is one of the most significant nations in the world when it comes to international trade. For decades, it has led the world in imports while simultaneously remaining as one of the top three exporters of the world.

The leading US exports include: agricultural products (soybeans, fruit, corn), industrial supplies (organic chemicals), capital goods (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment), consumer goods (automobiles, medicines). Exports-partners are Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, the UK and Germany.

Major imports are agricultural products, industrial supplies (crude oil), capital goods (computers, telecommunications equipment, motor vehicle parts, office machines), consumer goods (automobiles, clothing, medicines, furniture, toys). China, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Germany are chief trading partners.