California’s merchandise export trade in March increased for the fifth consecutive month in year-over-year comparisons, with the value of outbound shipments gaining 25.7 percent over March a year ago, new data shows.
The Golden State shipped abroad $12.37 billion in goods in March, an impressive gain over the $9.84 billion the state’s exporters sent to foreign markets in the same month a year ago, according to a new analysis by Beacon Economics.
California’s export trade industry “continued to claw its way back toward pre-recession levels in March,” a news release said.
Beacon Economics analyzed international trade data that was released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department.
At California’s major international trade gateways, the state’s March rise in export trade was encouraging.
The number of loaded shipping containers leaving the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland grew by 10.1 percent over a year ago. Los Angeles International and San Francisco International, the state’s two primary international airports, enjoyed an even larger boost. Export tonnage in March jumped by 35.8 percent over last March, Beacon Economics reported.
California accounted for 11.2 percent of all U.S. merchandise exports in March.
Tempering the good news was a warning from Jock O’Connell, Beacon Economics’ international trade adviser, that troubled European economies could dampen demand for California’s products.
“While March’s numbers are certainly comforting, we shouldn’t forget that we are still not back to the volumes of trade we were doing before the global financial and economic crisis sent international trade spiraling into an abyss,” O’Connell said in the release.
California’s exports of manufactured products rose 21.7 percent in March over the same month a year ago, while shipments of agricultural goods and other non-manufactured products swelled by 29.7 percent, Beacon Economics reported. Re-exports of items previously imported into the state, meanwhile, jumped by 37.5 percent.
The sovereign debt crisis that’s hammering the European Union could significantly decrease demand for California products for quite some time, O’Connell said.
“While most of our export trade involves Canada, Mexico, and the Far East, the fallout from what has been happening in Europe has been affecting markets throughout the world,” he said. “It’s not simply that the euro has been losing value against the dollar as the crisis has unfolded over the last several weeks, it’s that the steps needed to restore fiscal health to countries like Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal are apt to retard economic growth throughout the EU and among the EU’s global trading partners.”
Concern over the viability of the euro as a reserve currency could cause Chinese authorities to suspend plans to allow China’s currency to appreciate against the dollar, an action that would have made U.S. goods cheaper for Chinese businesses and consumers, he said.
China is California’s fourth-largest export market.
California’s merchandise import trade also rose in March, to $24.92 billion, an increase of 25.6 percent over March 2009, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Golden State’s international trade deficit in March totaled $12.55 billion.
