Buoyed by aircraft and aerospace components, export activity by Connecticut companies surged in 2018.
According to the April Connecticut Economic Digest, Connecticut’s commodity exports totaled $17.4 billion last year — a 17.7-percent increase from the $14.78 billion tallied in 2017.
In New England in 2018, only Massachusetts outpaced Connecticut in export value, as has been the case since 2005. As a regional trading bloc, New England’s commodity exports totaled more than $57.97 billion in 2018, a 4.68-percent increase from 2017.
Nationwide, U.S.commodity exports totaled more than $1.66 trillion in 2018, representing a 7.62-percent increase over the $1.54 trillion recorded in 2017. Due to geographic proximity and NAFTA, Canada and Mexico were the top two destinations for U.S. exports in 2018, followed by China, Japan and the United Kingdom.
(The CERC report includes figures for commodity exports only, as service-export data is inexact and unavailable at the state level.)
The most recent available data indicates that 5,566 companies exported from Connecticut in 2015. Of these companies, 89 percent were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
Connecticut’s top export commodities last year were: 1) aircraft, spacecraft and aerospace components; 2) industrial machinery, including computers; 3) optic, photo, medical or surgical instruments; and 4) electric machinery, sound equipment, TV equipment and parts.
Connecticut’s export ranking among the states has remained steady for a number of years, firmly entrenched in the middle of the pack with a rank of No. 27 last year. The top five export states for 2018 were (in order) Texas, California, New York, Washington and Louisiana.
The Connecticut Economic Digest is published jointly by the Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development and Department of Labor.
Contact Michael C.Bingham at mbingham@newhavenbiz.com
