Why China Matters to North Dakota
North Dakota’s goods exports to China remained at an all-time high in 2022 of $1.1 billion. This total marks an astonishing quintupling in its goods exports to China in recent years, and a significant increase from the 2008-2017 average of $642 million. North Dakota counts China as its second largest global trading partner behind Canada, and this is entirely due to China’s purchasing of North Dakota’s oilseeds & grains. Soybeans–a crop originally from China–account for a sizable portion of the state’s export to China. In fact, Chinese soybean demand from the state exceeds existing supply, and future export shipments are already booked for the next year. Additionally, North Dakota’s ambition to become a carbon-sequestration-capital positions it well to engage with China around climate change related opportunities. Chinese investment in the state however took a major hit when the $700 million corn milling plant in Grand Forks proposed by Chinese feed manufacturer, Fufeng USA, was abandoned in June 2023. Despite initial support, politicians, including Governor Doug Burgum, now exercise caution and oppose the project. Presidential hopeful Governor Borgum has taken an increasingly tough stance on China, claiming that we are in a new cold war. In 2023, Governor Burgum signed Senate Bill No. 2371 into law, prohibiting local development and ownership of real property by “foreign adversaries.”
North Dakota’s goods exports to China remained at an all-time high in 2022 of $1.1 billion. This total marks an astonishing quintupling in its goods exports to China in recent years, and a significant increase from the 2008-2017 average of $642 million. North Dakota counts China as its second largest global trading partner behind Canada, and this is entirely due to China’s purchasing of North Dakota’s oilseeds & grains. Soybeans–a crop originally from China–account for a sizable portion of the state’s export to China. In fact, Chinese soybean demand from the state exceeds existing supply, and future export shipments are already booked for the next year.
The low point in 2018, with the state’s total goods exporting to China at just $203 million, represented the tremendous toll that the trade war had on North Dakota–the state was in fact the hardest hit of any of the Heartland states with its goods exporting dropping by a total of 73% from 2017 to 2018. North Dakota was hit hardest both due to the primacy of its soybean exports to China as well as its geographical location. North Dakota has primed itself to meet China’s ever-growing demand for animal feed with 90% of the state’s China-bound exports being attributed to oilseeds and grains, the bulk of which are soybeans with China buying 70% of the state’s total production. Given how North Dakota had the largest percentage of any Heartland states attributed to oilseeds and grains, the state had the most to lose once China tariffed and then stopped purchasing its #1 crop. This loss was further exacerbated by the “North” in North Dakota, as states further south and east were better able to shift surplus soybeans to other markets such as Mexico and Europe. Other states also had more processing plants to create soymeal as well as more livestock to consume it.
North Dakota’s ambition to become a carbon-sequestration-capital positions it well to engage with China around climate change related opportunities.
Chinese investment in the state however took a major hit when the $700 million corn milling plant in Grand Forks proposed by Chinese feed manufacturer, Fufeng USA, was abandoned in June 2023. Despite initial support, politicians, including Governor Doug Burgum, now exercise caution and oppose the project. Presidential hopeful Governor Borgum has taken an increasingly tough stance on China, claiming that we are in a new cold war. In 2023, Governor Burgum signed Senate Bill No. 2371 into law, prohibiting local development and ownership of real property by “foreign adversaries.”
North Dakota had an estimated Chinese international student population less than of less than 100 students in the 2022/2023 Academic calendar year.
This data and content is updated periodically. The most recent update was January 2024.
North Dakota’s goods exports to China remained at an all-time high in 2022 of $1.1 billion. This total marks an astonishing quintupling in its goods exports to China in recent years, and a significant increase from the 2008-2017 average of $642 million. North Dakota counts China as its second largest global trading partner behind Canada, and this is entirely due to China’s purchasing of North Dakota’s oilseeds & grains. Soybeans–a crop originally from China–account for a sizable portion of the state’s export to China. In fact, Chinese soybean demand from the state exceeds existing supply, and future export shipments are already booked for the next year. Additionally, North Dakota’s ambition to become a carbon-sequestration-capital positions it well to engage with China around climate change related opportunities. Chinese investment in the state however took a major hit when the $700 million corn milling plant in Grand Forks proposed by Chinese feed manufacturer, Fufeng USA, was abandoned in June 2023. Despite initial support, politicians, including Governor Doug Burgum, now exercise caution and oppose the project. Presidential hopeful Governor Borgum has taken an increasingly tough stance on China, claiming that we are in a new cold war. In 2023, Governor Burgum signed Senate Bill No. 2371 into law, prohibiting local development and ownership of real property by “foreign adversaries.”
North Dakota’s goods exports to China remained at an all-time high in 2022 of $1.1 billion. This total marks an astonishing quintupling in its goods exports to China in recent years, and a significant increase from the 2008-2017 average of $642 million. North Dakota counts China as its second largest global trading partner behind Canada, and this is entirely due to China’s purchasing of North Dakota’s oilseeds & grains. Soybeans–a crop originally from China–account for a sizable portion of the state’s export to China. In fact, Chinese soybean demand from the state exceeds existing supply, and future export shipments are already booked for the next year.
Wisconsin was fortunate that, because of the diversity in its exports to China and thanks to the state’s strength in sectors such as industrial machinery and scientific instruments, total export revenue stayed high even as agricultural industries were impacted heavily by the trade war. As Wisconsin’s third-largest trading partner, the state ships out a variety of goods; dairy products, corn, soybeans, ginseng, and cranberries are just some of the state’s agricultural goods reliant on the Chinese market. Wisconsin has been shipping ginseng to China for over a century, with over 95% of U.S. ginseng exports coming from Marathon County, and Wisconsin-grown ginseng is considered a luxury product despite foreign competitors making up the majority of the market; however, but the 7.5% tariff China imposed on ginseng imports during the trade war has hurt the industry. China’s oilseed and grain imports from Wisconsin fell to just $74 million in 2018, but rebounded to $474 million in 2021. Wisconsin was hard hit by China’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. dairy in 2019, with export sales in this category dipping to their lowest total in a decade; the industry was also negatively affected by overproduction and plummeting consumption, which resulted in the loss of dairy farms.
Additionally, North Dakota’s ambition to become a carbon-sequestration-capital positions it well to engage with China around climate change related opportunities.
Wisconsin businesses interested in starting or expanding dairy exports to China were invited to the Wisconsin Pavilion at the 2022 China Dairy Expo in Nanchang. After a two-year pandemic cancellation, the China Lights Wisconsin Festival returned to the Boerner Botanical Gardens in the fall. In early 2022, three bills targeting China were introduced in Wisconsin’s Legislature, all focused on the University of Wisconsin: SB 742 would prohibit admitting or hiring anyone belonging to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, SB 744 would prohibit missions from China to any UW institution, and SB 745 would require disclosure of contracts or gifts from foreign sources. All three bills failed to pass.
Chinese investment in the state however took a major hit when the $700 million corn milling plant in Grand Forks proposed by Chinese feed manufacturer, Fufeng USA, was abandoned in June 2023. Despite initial support, politicians, including Governor Doug Burgum, now exercise caution and oppose the project. Presidential hopeful Governor Borgum has taken an increasingly tough stance on China, claiming that we are in a new cold war. In 2023, Governor Burgum signed Senate Bill No. 2371 into law, prohibiting local development and ownership of real property by “foreign adversaries.”
North Dakota had an estimated Chinese international student population less than of less than 100 students in the 2022/2023 Academic calendar year.
This data and content is updated periodically. The most recent update was January 2024.
Exports
China's Ranking
In State's Global Trading Partners 2022
#2
Decade Average
Goods Exporting to China
2008-2017 Pre-Trade War
$642 Million
Highest Year on Record
Goods Exporting to China
2022
% State Global Exporting to china
14%
of Goods Exports 2022
6%
of Service Exports 2021
State Ranking in Heartland
#18
In Total Goods Exports Value 2022
#21
In Total Service Exports Value 2021
State Ranking in U.S.
#32
In Total Goods Exports Value 2022
#47
In Total Service Exports Value 2021
China's Ranking
In State's Global Trading Partners 2022
#2
Decade Average
Goods Exporting to China
2008-2017 Pre-Trade War
$642 Million
Highest Year on Record
Goods Exporting to China
2022
% State global exporting to china
14%
of Goods Exports 2022
6%
of Service Exports 2021
State Ranking in Heartland
#18
In Total Goods Exports Value 2022
#21
In Total Service Exports Value 2021
State Ranking in U.S.
#32
In Total Goods Exports Value 2022
#47
In Total Service Exports Value 2021
Partnership
Sister Cities
North Dakota has no sister cities in China.
Sister Partnership
North Dakota currently does not have a sister state relationship with a province of China.
Export Details
2022
Goods Exports
$1.1 Billion
(USCBC Export Report 2023) +8%
1
Oil Seeds & Grains ($1.1B)
+10%
2
Ag. & Construction Machinery ($6M)
+50%
3
Meat Products ($3.4M)
2021
Service Exports
$57 Million
(USCBC Export Report 2023) -9%
1
Education ($13M)
-7%
2
Misc. Freight & Port Services ($8M)
-5%
3
Operational Leasing ($8M)
+6%
blank
Jobs
10,670
Jobs supported by exports to China in 2021 (USCBC Export Report 2023)
N/A
Jobs supported by Chinese companies (NCUSR Rhodium Group 2018)
N/A
Chinese companies operating in-state (NCUSR Rhodium Group 2018)
1
Information not available
2
Information not available
3
Information not available
Education
(IIE Open Doors 2023)
Top educational Institutions with chinese enrollment
- North Dakota State University – Fargo
- University of North Dakota – Grand Forks
- Minot State University
<100
Estimated number of Chinese International Students in-State
$13 Million
Estimated revenue added by Chinese International Students (USCBC Export Report 2022)
Chinese-American Population
2,043
(APIAVote 2022)
Goods Exporting
Oilseeds and grains accounted for nearly the entirety of North Dakota’s goods exporting to China in 2022
<$50 million
Chinese Foreign Direct Investment from 1990-2020
(Rhodium Group’s US-China Investment Hub)
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For the states’ trade statistics: USCBC Export Report 2023.
For information relating to Chinese companies operating in-state: Rhodium Group and National Committee on U.S. China Relations’ “New Neighbors: 2018 Update”.
For information relating to Chinese international students: Open Doors’ 2023 Annual Data.
For the population of Chinese Americans in-state: APIAVote’s “2022 AAPI Voter Demographics by State”
For FDI: Rhodium Group’s US-China Investment Hub.
For sister city relationship information: Asia Matters for America by the East-West Center.
For foreign land ownership legislation: Mykel R. Taylor, Wendong Zhang, and Festus Attah. 2023. “Foreign Interests in U.S. Agricultural Lands: The Missing Conversations about Leasing.”