Metro Denver didn’t get as strong a push from exports as did most other metro areas coming out of the recession, according to a report today from the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings.
U.S. exports rose 11.4 percent between 2009 and 2010, the best showing for the country’s exporters since 1997. The increase was much faster than the 8 percent annual pace averaged between 2003 and 2008.
But in metro Denver, export sales in 2010 increased at only two-thirds of the pace recorded between 2003 and 2008 — 8.1 percent versus 12.1 percent.
Because it looks at services as wells as goods, the Brookings analysis is more comprehensive than most studies of U.S. exports, which focus just on products.
But that broader review also results in a lag. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis won’t release 2011 data on service exports until October.
One possible explanation for Denver’s weaker showing is the decline in the region’s manufacturing capacity, especially on the technology side.
Metro Denver has held its own in exporting service expertise, but three-quarters of the 2010 surge in exports came from manufacturing.
That helps explain why places like Youngstown, Ohio, saw a 30.4percent jump in exports in 2010 and why Detroit, which averaged 0.3 percent growth a year in exports before the recession, saw exports surge 13.3 percent in 2010.
Another explanation could be timing. Colorado went into the recession later than the rest of the country and may have taken longer to shake off the hit it took.
Karen Gerwitz, executive director of the World Trade Center Denver, said exports of manufactured goods and commodities rose 9.3 percent for Colorado last year from 2010.
Gerwitz said she agrees with Brookings that exports are what will keep the recovery on track and create jobs.
“The World Trade Center is doing everything we can to educate Colorado companies on how to trade. A lack of education is the main barrier for companies in entering a new export market,” she said.
The Brookings study found that the recession accelerated the increase in the share of U.S. exports going to emerging markets.
“Metropolitan areas that produce what emerging markets consume are better-positioned to take advantage of growth in these countries,” the report’s authors said.
Metro Denver ranked 25th among all U.S. metros with exports valued at $10.2 billion last year. Those exports accounted for 7.2 percent of the metro area’s overall GDP, compared to a U.S. average of 10.7 percent.
Colorado Springs ranked as the 96th with $1.8 billion in exports, responsible for 6.6 percent of its economic activity. Exports rose 6.6 percent in 2010, up from the pre-recession pace of 5 percent.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com or
