Pay Attention to Exports

October 22nd, 2008 at 03:20pm Bob Trojan

One of our manufacturing strengths in recent years has been the export market.  I’m sure many of our local manufacturers sell their products or services to customers who export.  maybe some of you, like me, export directly as well as sell to customers who in turn export.  So between direct exports and indirect exports (selling to customers who export), watching what is taking place in other countries and you own customers will keep you on the leading edge of market intelligence.

A look at Foreign Trade data from the Bureau of Census; see link… http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/top/index.html you can see how much exports have grown and how dependent we have become.  From 2004 through 2007, they’ve increased by 42%; year to date through August 2008 over August YTD 2004, they’ve grown by 67%.  Yes, 2008 is in for another record year.

Our Top 6 Export Markets are (in order) Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, U.K. and Germany.  So far this year they make up 50.6% of the value of all exports of Goods from the U.S.  You can bet that our local manufacturers are also in a high range to these same countries.

Watching this is one thing, doing something about it is another matter.

Me, I’m going to increase my market share by taking it away from my competitors.

Entry Filed under: Export, Economy