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| Bigger loads: Cargo ships like this one are carrying a rising number of US products to other countries, thanks in part to
the fall in the value of the dollar. Mark Lennihan/AP/file |
Surge in exports buoys U.S. economy
Biggest export last year? Nuclear reactors. Sales of boats and harvesters surge, too.
By Ron Scherer | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the October 17, 2007 edition
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New York - The world is rediscovering "Made in USA."
American exports are now coursing their way around the world at a record level.
In a major shift from the past five years, the US trade deficit, after stabilizing last year, is now shrinking. US companies, faced with slower economic growth in their home market, are now targeting foreign buyers. It doesn't hurt to have the dollar sinking in value – down almost 9 percent so far this year – and a relatively strong global economy. In fact, the US economy would be flirting with recession if it weren't for the 1 percentage point of growth fueled by the export surge.
"Exports have suddenly become a key source of growth at a time when the economy is looking for any growth it can get," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.
The largest US exports last year: nuclear power plants, followed by electrical machinery, vehicles, airplanes, and medical equipment. The trade situation has shifted so dramatically, Mr. Zandi says, that the US is now exporting lumber to Canada for the first time in 25 years.
North Dakota exports up 87 percent
Part of the improvement is due to state trade-development offices. That's the case in North Dakota, for example, where its trade office has helped the state's foreign exports grow by 87 percent since 2001. "Everyone on the staff is motivated and compensated by increasing export volume," says Susan Geib, executive director in Fargo.
North Dakota is focusing on nations with "transitional" economies, such as Ukraine, which is now seeing substantial direct investment and is in the process of revamping its agricultural sector.
That focus has helped Fargo-based Amity Technology, which makes sugar-beet harvesters and other specialty farm equipment. Amity now exports nearly 60 percent of its production. Exports have gone from $4 million in 2001 to $40 million today.
"We can supply the entire US market with six weeks of our production," says Brian Dahl, a vice president. "The rest of it goes abroad."
In Amity's case, a lot of the credit goes to the company for persevering. It had to improve the quality of its products and redesign them to fit inside a standard shipping container. For four years, Amity knocked on doors without success.
"Before the first sale, we must have bought 50 tickets to Russia and the Ukraine; we spent money we didn't have, but we sensed that eventually we would get the opportunity," says Mr. Dahl.
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