NJ's global trade surged in 2011
Feb 14, 2012 (Menafn - The Record - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --New Jersey's global trade bounced back strongly in 2011, the second consecutive annual rise, even as exports to European countries declined amid the economic slowdown there.
The dollar value of exports from New Jersey increased by about 19 percent in 2011 over the year before, to 38.2 billion, according to figures released Monday by the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research (WISER) of Massachusetts, which analyzes federal trade figures.
That was about the same percentage increase as the dollar value of imports through New Jersey's ports, which rose to 144 billion.
The rebound in imports and exports in 2010 and 2011 followed a 30 percent decline in 2009 as the recession here took hold. The value of both imports and exports has now exceeded its 2008 peaks, with exports totaling about 2.6 billion in 2011, or 7 percent, higher than in 2008. Imports into New Jersey are now 12.6 billion or 10 percent higher than the previous peak.
"It's back on track finally," said Jim Diffley, chief regional economist for IHS Global Insights, a Colorado based global information company. "But it took two years of double-digit gains to finally get back on track."
The decline in exports to Europe was mainly due to the poor economy shrinking the ability of consumers and companies there to buy New Jersey goods, Diffley said.
"That will happen again in 2012, because we believe it's [Europe] in a recession," he said. Still, he said, the picture is brighter, given Greece's apparent slow movement towards a new bailout agreement.
Exports to the United Kingdom, second among recipients of New Jersey goods by dollar value, grew by just 13 percent in 2011. Exports to the UK grew by 26 percent in 2010, the WISER figures show.
Exports to Germany, ranked seventh, grew by just 8 percent in 2011, compared to 30 percent in 2010.
Exports from New Jersey to France, Italy and Switzerland, fell by 10 percent, 7 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively.
The big exception in the European decline was the Netherlands, which received New Jersey exports valued at about 2 billion in 2011, about 84 percent higher than in 2010. That increase pushed the country from eighth place to fourth in receipts of New Jersey exports.
Email: morley@northjersey.com
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