U.S. exports in March reach record-high $172.7 billion

2011-05-12 06:57:02 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- U.S. exports of goods and services reached $172.7 billion in March, marking the largest monthly total ever recorded, while imports totaled $220.8 billion, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The exports figure surpassed January's $167.5 billion, which was the previous record, and imports resulted in a goods and services deficit of $48.2 billion, up from $45.4 billion in February's revised numbers.

During the past year, U.S. exports have totaled $1.9 trillion with an annual growth rate of 16.4 percent and an increase of 20.9 percent compared to those in 2009.

According to the BEA report, March exports increased by $7.7 billion compared to February's $165 billion, while imports marked a $10.4 billion increase from the previous month's $210.4 billion.

Meanwhile, the Export-Import Bank of the United States said it had completed $13.4 billion in total authorizations for the first six months of the current fiscal year (October 2010 through March), supporting $15.9 billion in U.S. exports and more than 115,000 American jobs.  The six month authorization figure is the highest in the Bank's history.

Over the last twelve months, among the major export markets - those with at least $6 billion in annual imports of U.S. goods - the countries with the largest annualized increase in U.S. goods purchases, when compared to 2009, were Turkey (57.3 percent), South Africa (37.9 percent), Panama (36.1 percent), Taiwan (34.6 percent), Peru (34.2 percent), Brazil (33.3 percent), Argentina (33.1 percent), Malaysia (31.7 percent), Thailand (31.2 percent), and China (30.3 percent).

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-05-12

Cool! I make up a small part of that ! Importing from the US has never been better. It's cheaper with the exchange rate and the quality of the product is still quite respected.

Ahh, fun with percentages. Buried in the number is that of Canada, the USA's largest trading partner. As the recovery took hold in Canada, plant investment and consumer purchases increased and that recovery helped bump up the US numbers. The US exported almost $260billion to Canada in 2010, up from $236billion in 2009. That's only an 8% increase but is still $24 billion. In 2009, Exports to Thailand were approx. $6.9billion. Even if that number went up 100% it would only be $6.9billion. The use of % in the article without the actual export values is misleading.