The value of Connecticut’s exports to the rest of the world hit an all-time high in 2010 — topping $16 billion, two federal agencies said Friday.
Like the rest of the country, Connecticut pushed for a drastic increase in its exports in 2010, as part of President Barack Obama’s National Export Initiative to double U.S. exports in five years.
From 2009 to 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau said, Connecticut increased exports 14.7 percent, a rate that would push the state above Obama’s goal in the five-year time span.
The increase is a bit overstated, though, because Connecticut had a 9 percent drop in exports from 2008 to 2009.
Connecticut’s previous export record was set in 2008, at $15.4 billion. The increase from 2008 to 2010 was 4 percent. All these numbers are not adjusted for inflation.
From 2000 to 2010, Connecticut increased its exports from $8 billion to $16 billion with its top trade partners as Canada, France, Germany and Mexico, the Census Bureau said. Connecticut’s top exports over that time span were transportation equipment, including aerospace, and agricultural products.
Although detailed data for all of 2010 was not available from the bureau Friday, the Commerce Department said separately Friday Connecticut’s leading exports worldwide through September were transportation equipment, machinery, computer and electronic products, chemicals and agricultural products.
The state’s top five trade partners through the first nine months of 2010, in order, were France, Canada, Germany, Mexico and China, the Commerce Department said.
