The global recession shaved nearly $2 billion off Colorado exports last year, according to trade numbers from the state.
Total goods exported from Colorado to foreign countries fell nearly 25 percent last year — from $7.67 billion in 2008 to $5.78 billion in 2009, said Pam Reichert, the state’s director of international trade.
That decline may have cost the state 5,000 to 6,000 jobs in manufacturing, mining and agriculture, estimates Jim Reis, president and chief executive of the World Trade Center in Denver. Last year, Colorado lost about 87,700 nonfarm jobs, according to initial estimates.
Export losses were spread across many categories, but some areas did increase despite the worst year for international trade since World War II.
Electronic integrated circuits, the state’s largest export category, fell 26.2 percent, from $520.9 million in 2008 to $384.4 million last year.
The decline reflects a long-term shift of semiconductor manufacturing out of Colorado to other lower-cost states and countries, Reis said.
Fresh beef exports, the state’s third-biggest export item, fell from $400.3 million in 2008 to $304.7 million in 2009, a 23.9 percent decline.
Consumers shifted to cheaper meats to save money. Also, a weaker peso made Colorado beef more expensive in Mexico, an important market.
Molybdenum ores exported from Colorado fell 71.5 percent, reflecting a drop in steel production. Another big loser was automated-data-processing equipment. Exports there dropped 56.1 percent, from $402.9 million to $177 million.
Medical devices, the state’s second-largest export, rose 3.4 percent. Crude-oil exports more than doubled, from $137.4 million in 2008 to $279.4 million in 2009.
A category of organic chemicals rose 242.4 percent last year to $244.5 million. In 2007, the state exported $20.5 million in that category.
Aircraft engines and parts accounted for $208.7 million, compared with nothing the year before.
The state’s five-largest export markets last year were Canada, Mexico, China, Japan and Germany.
Reichert and Reis noted that exports improved in November and December and that if the state follows the U.S. trend, that momentum likely continued into January.
U.S. exports rose 3.3 percent to $142.7 billion last month, according to trade data released Wednesday.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com
