BOISE - This week, the Department of Commerce released Idaho's 3rd quarter export sales. It's not as good as last year, but it's a lot better than last quarter!
Computer circuitry, paper and dairy products are just some of Idaho's top sellers when it comes to overseas customers.
The vast majority of Idaho imports are shipped to Asia; Taiwan tops the list in the third quarter with nearly $260 million worth of Idaho goods, followed by Canada and China.
Last year, Idaho exports reached an all-time high.
"We had over $5 billion of exports which was a pleasant surprise for us given the economy, domestically, had started to turn down in 2008 and yet we still finished the year with a record year," said Damien Bard, International Business Division of Idaho Dept. of Commerce.
This year, it's been a different story and Idaho is still significantly lagging in its year-to-date results. But the third quarter, which just ended, is showing some promise. A nearly 25 percent increase in exports from the quarter before. Nationally exports rose just 5 percent.
"What that says to us is that's a more rapid increase than we've typically seen quarter to quarter, so we have reason to be cautiously optimistic that things might be turning around in the export sector," said Bard.
"As far as international sales, we are experiencing about 25 percent quarter over quarter growth," said Amy Childress, PakSense Marketing Director.
Falling right in line with those statewide numbers is PakSense, a Boise company that makes a food safety monitoring label. It's used for tracking time and temperature of perishables as they travel nationally and internationally.
"The return on investment is high. It becomes a no-brainer situation to put one of these labels on there," said Childress.
And that's what more and more international companies are doing. PakSense is on track for another double-digit increase for the 4th quarter.
Bard attributes the statewide jump to a weaker U.S. dollar and a stronger international demand.
"[It's] something we always try to preach to Idaho companies that, to hedge against domestic downturn in the economy, look to international markets because that can help you even out those downturns in the economy," he said.
Last quarter, from July to September, Idaho exported more than $1 billion worth of products to 112 countries.
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