Connecticut’s exports dropped last year for the first time since 2009, based on a weaker global economy and a stronger U.S. dollar that made products more expensive for foreign buyers.
Laura Jaworski, from the Department of Economic and Community Development’s Office of International and Domestic Business Development, prepared a report on Connecticut’s export performance for the April edition of The Connecticut Economic Digest.
She said in 2015, Connecticut’s commodity exports totaled $15.25 billion, a 4.24 percent decrease from the $15.93 billion registered in 2014. That decrease was well below the overall U.S. decrease of 7.15 percent.
Connecticut’s decrease was also lower than New England as a region. New England’s commodity exports totaled more than $52.49 billion in 2015, a 6.78 percent decrease from 2014.
Connecticut’s top five export commodities were:
- aircraft spacecraft and parts;
- industrial machinery, including computers;
- electric machinery, sound equipment, TV equipment, parts;
- optic, photo, medical or surgical instruments; and,
- copper and articles.
The state’s top five commodity export destinations were France, Germany, Canada, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Mexico. Despite a 12.6 percent decrease in 2015, France remained the top destination for commodity exports, with $1.93 billion in state exports recorded in 2015.
Among the state’s top 10 partners, the U.A.E. experienced the greatest growth in commodity exports at 39.41 percent. Connecticut exports to the U.A.E., a market that has been a significant destination for state exports the past few years, were dominated by aircraft, spacecraft and parts; industrial machinery, including, computers; electric machinery, sound equipment, TV equipment, with the greatest percentage growth coming in pharmaceutical products.
Connecticut’s ranking among U.S.states held steady at 27th in 2015. Texas, California, Washington, New York and Illinois were the top five export states in 2015, ranked in terms of export commodity dollars, the report determined.
