MISER PRESENTATION ON STATE EXPORTS
November 15, 2001
Beginning in 1988, under an agreement with the Foreign Trade Division at Census, MISER improved Census data on state exports as part of its Business and Industry Data Center initiative. MISER developed an imputation algorithm to fill in missing states and industries in the raw data from Census. MISER also developed software to provide easy access to the vast amounts of trade data available from Census.
New England State Exports (Origin of Movement)
Connecticut outperformed other New England states in export growth in the first three quarters of 2001. While MA and VT show large declines, CT shipments are well above year 2000 levels. This may be due to large CT transportation equipment orders being filled on schedule.
Connecticut Exports by Country (Origin of Movement)
Canada remains CT’s premier export destination, although France is closing in quickly with strong gains from 1999-2001. Growth in CT sales to Germany and Japan have outpaced growth to UK in 2001.
Connecticut Exports by 2-Digit SIC (Origin of Movement)
From 1987-2000 state exports were reported by 34 2-digit SIC codes. By SIC codes, transportation equipment, machinery & computers, instruments, electric & electrical equipment, and chemicals were CT’s leading export industries. The state of “Origin of Movement” (OM) of exports is defined as: the state where the product began its export journey, the state of consolidation of shipments, the state of greatest value in case of consolidation, or the state of a foreign trade zone. While not equivalent to state of “production”, OM better reflects state of production than state of Exporter Location (EL).
Connecticut Exports by 3-Digit NAICS (Exporter Location)
Census introduced a second state export series in 1993 based on the state of Exporter Location (EL). EL data more often reflects company headquarters, brokers, and wholesalers than OM. According to EL, chemicals and agricultural products are CT’s second and third largest export industries. Among all states, CT has one of the largest percentage difference between its OM and EL export values, $8 billion and $13 billion respectively in the year 2000.
Connecticut Exports by 3-Digit NAICS (Origin of Movement)
In 2001, Census replaced SIC with NAICS (North American Industrial Classification System). Census produced state exports by NAICS data back to 1997. According to NAICS, transportation, machinery, computers & electronics, chemicals, and miscellaneous manufacturing (including medical instruments) are CT’s leading export industries.
Connecticut Exports by 2-Digit HS (OM)
In 1999, for the first time, Census released detailed state export data by 6-digit Harmonized System (HS) commodity. Even at the 2-digit level, HS is 3 times more detailed than 2-digit SIC or 3-digit NAICS. By 2-digit HS, machinery (instead of transportation), aircraft, instruments, electric machinery, and plastics are CT’s leading export segments.
Connecticut Machinery (HS 84) Exports by 4-Digit HS (OM)
Drilling down to the 4-digit HS level for CT machinery exports reveals that turbojets, turbopropellers, & other gas turbines comprise nearly all CT’s machinery exports. Ball bearings, air or vacuum pumps, pumps for liquids, and centrifuges, the state’s next largest machinery exports, are dwarfed in comparison to turbojets.
Connecticut Turbojet Exports (HS 8411) by 6-Digit HS (OM)
Drilling down from the 4-digit to 6-digit level shows that turbojets of a thrust exceeding 25 knots and turbojet and turbopropeller parts are CT’s leading 6-digit commodity exports by far within HS 8411.
HOW ARE STATE EXPORT DATA USED?
State export data is used by state’s offices of international trade to measure export performance and to target industries and countries for export promotion. The data are also used by US and foreign government offices, world trade centers, embassies, consulates, chambers of commerce, the US Federal Reserve Banks and other commercial banks, the transportation industry, other private and public research organizations, and manufacturers. As one example of how the data can be used, MISER’s Northeast State Export 2000 report, produced for the Council of State Governments, Eastern Trade Council, used the data to identify commodities and countries of shared specialization in the region. In the table below, states specializing in each commodity are highlighted in yellow. These commodities may warrant joint trade promotion efforts in the 10-state region.