Community Corner

Top Holiday Imports: Trees, Toys, Barbie

A look at where your ornaments, artificial trees, holiday gifts and more might have originated.

By the time the holiday season kicks off, shelves are stocked with tree decorations, toys and other festive items used to deck the halls or give as gifts.

But besides what's sent from Santa's workshop, where do the rest of these items come from?

The value of U.S. toy imports including stuffed toys, puzzles and electric trains from China between January and September 2011 was $2.5 billion, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

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China was the leading country of origin for stuffed toys coming into the U.S., as well as for some other popular holiday gifts like roller skates ($24.6 million), sports footwear ($253.8 million) and basketballs ($38.9 million), according to the bureau.

Barbie took the No. 1 spot on the list of holiday imports this year, according to an analysis of the 75 most popular toys for Businessweek.com by Panjiva.

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California led the nation in 2009 with 15 locations that primarily manufactured dolls and stuffed toys out of 88 total nationwide. California also took the top spot the same year with 98 of the 579 nationwide establishments that primarily produced games, toys and children's vehicles, the Census Bureau reported.

The value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree ornaments from China between January and September 2011 was $983 million. China was the leading foreign source of artificial Christmas trees shipped to the U.S. ($79.7 million worth) during the same period, according to the Census Bureau.


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