Connecticut exports last year increased 14.7 percent to top $16 billion, according to a report from the state Department of Economic and Community Development, reaching their highest level since 1988 though trailing New England”™s overall gain of 17.5 percent.
The gains come even as multiple groups attempt to increase the appetite for exports by Connecticut businesses, many of whom regard finding overseas customers and financing a challenge despite attempts to provide assistance through the Obama administration”™s National Export Initiative and other local initiatives.
William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in early May that recent manufacturing data suggest a continuing recovery fueled in part from overseas orders, particularly from Asia.
At the same time, higher fuel prices could crimp that growth ”“ and could make it difficult for businesses to obtain financing, whether for local expansion or in support of export initiatives, said Peter Gioia, vice president and economist for the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.
In April, the U.S. Department of Commerce”™s Export Assistance Center in Middletown informally polled Connecticut companies on what they deemed their biggest obstacle to improve their ability to export. Perhaps surprisingly, instead of citing difficulties finding foreign buyers, companies instead said their biggest challenge was financing export sales.
“Part of the mission of the National Export Initiative is how do we increase exports faster,” said Anne Evans, director of the Middletown Export Assistance Center. “Well, we take the company that is already exporting in one country and we expand it to five.”
The Connecticut Development Authority has begun working with the Export Assistance Center on the issue and the Stamford Chamber of Commerce this year launched an initiative to help companies find their first overseas market for exports.
“What they are doing is filling a nice gap on the new-to-export (sector),” Evans said. “It is a challenge on new-to-export companies. We try to bring them into group events (and) group training so you can do 20 companies at one time.”
One of those workshops is scheduled at the University of Bridgeport for May 23, which happens to fall during World Trade Week. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is scheduled to attend, along with officials from the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Small Business Administration and the Connecticut Development Authority.
The Export Assistance Center also has an ongoing calendar and free archive of webinars addressing various export hurdles on its website.
Connecticut”™s export numbers likely underestimate the state”™s actual exports due to many services not being captured in the figures, said Laura Jaworski, an analyst in the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, who published a report on the state”™s exports in DECD”™s May edition of The Connecticut Economic Digest. Jaworski relied on data from the Massachusetts-based World Institute for Strategic Economic Research.
The year before, the recession had depressed exports 8 percent from their level in 2008, their biggest single drop in three decades. The 2010 gain was the second highest during that period, with the biggest increase occurring in 2006.
Connecticut ranked eighth nationally for exports as measured on a per capita basis.
For the second straight year, France was the top buyer of Connecticut exports ”“ likely driven by Airbus purchases of Pratt & Whitney engines for its passenger jets. Canada, Germany, China and Mexico rounded out the top five export destinations for Connecticut products.
The No. 6 destination, Belgium, had the biggest increase in purchases from Connecticut companies, more than tripling its intake to $767 million.
