Colorado exporters enjoyed their largest surge last year in more than a decade as foreign buyers snapped up products as diverse as sides of beef and semiconductors, according to a state report released Wednesday.
Exports totaled $7.96 billion in 2006, a 17.3 percent increase from the $6.78 billion sold abroad in 2005, according to the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. U.S. export volumes rose 14.7 percent in 2006.
“It was the biggest jump in Colorado exports since around 1993 or 1994,” said Laurel Alpert, the division director of international trade within the state’s economic-development office.
Large increases in sales of meat, semiconductors and scientific equipment drove the export rebound, with demand from Mexico, China and Taiwan rising sharply in 2006.
Exports to Mexico, the state’s second-largest market, increased by 20.2 percent to top $1 billion. Exports to China, including Hong Kong, grew 42.9 percent to $800 million, making it Colorado’s third-largest market, while sales to Taiwan rose 243.6 percent to $707 million.
Japan was Colorado’s fifth- largest market, with exports increasing 3.9 percent to almost $400 million.
Germany, Malaysia, South Korea, the United Kingdom and France were the other countries in Colorado’s top 10 export markets.
Canada remained the top destination for Colorado products, with a 2.3 percent increase in exports to almost $1.85 billion.
Strong global economic growth and a weakening U.S. dollar combined to boost exports, experts said.
“When the dollar sinks, it definitely helps us because our products are less expensive,” said Fulke Egerton, vice president of sales at Kisan Technologies Inc., a small Colorado Springs maker of motorcycle safety products.
The Internet allows foreign consumers to uncover products in faraway places and order them directly without having to deal with customs, Egerton added.
Sales of the state’s top export product, semiconductors, grew 69.9 percent from $763 million in 2005 to $1.3 billion in 2006. Semiconductor exports had fallen by more than a third in 2005 from 2004.
Manufacturers of measuring and scientific equipment in the state also had success, with exports growing from $118 million in 2005 to $210 million in 2006, a 79 percent jump.
Colorado beef producers benefited last year when Japan began accepting U.S. beef imports that had been halted because of reports of mad cow disease in 2003.
Meat exports surged from $152 million in 2005 to $263 million in 2006, a 73 percent jump, Alpert said.
The increase in exports likely helped stem five consecutive years of job losses in the state’s manufacturing sector.
Manufacturers added 1,100 jobs in December on a year- over-year basis, their strongest showing since 2000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com.
