ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240025
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Silicon Valley posted the nation's best export record last year, at least in terms of dollar gains.
Rising international demand for computers and other electronic products made San Jose, Calif., the top metropolitan area with an increase of $6.9 billion in foreign sales, up 34.5 percent over 1994, said a Commerce Department study released Wednesday.
The Roanoke metropolitan area - Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke and Botetourt counties - posted foreign sales of $231.3 million, up 18 percent.
The report, which showed how 253 metropolitan areas stacked up in terms of trade, was an effort by the administration to highlight economic benefits of expanded trade.
``One cannot overstate the importance of exports in creating jobs and economic growth and opportunity in our cities,'' Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor said. ``The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the Clinton administration's export promotion strategy.''
Bob Dole attacked Clinton's record last week, noting that the trade deficit has widened every year Clinton has been in office. ``Thousands and thousands of American jobs are being given away to foreign countries,'' he alleged.
The new Commerce Department report showed export sales for the 253 metropolitan areas totaled $467.66 billion last year, a 12.6 percent increase over 1994's $415.12 billion. These cities accounted for almost three-fourths of last year's total U.S. merchandise exports.
Detroit remained the country's top exporting area in 1995, but its sales of $27.32 billion represented a 0.6 percent drop from its 1994 total.
It was followed by New York, at $27.13 billion, an increase of 15.2 percent from the previous year led by an upswing in sales of primary metals including gold. San Jose, with exports of $26.82 billion, climbed into third place ahead of Los Angeles-Long Beach, where exports were up 11.3 percent to $24.73 billion.
After San Jose, the cities with the largest dollar gains were Chicago, where exports rose by $3.75 billion; New York, up $3.59 billion; Houston, up $2.86 billion; and the Los Angeles area, up $2.51 billion.
In all, 94 metro areas posted export gains of $1 billion or more in 1995, up from 77 in the 1994 survey.
Big dollar gains were concentrated in the nation's largest cities, but many of the largest percentage increases came from medium-sized cities not usually viewed as export powerhouses.
La Crosse, Wis., had the biggest increase in this category, a 196.8 percent jump that pushed exports in that city to $276.2 million. Other top percentage gains were turned in by Sherman-Denison, Texas, up 151 percent; South Bend, Ind., up 142.9 percent; Florence, S.C., up 112.4 percent; and Texarkana, Texas and Ark., up 112 percent.
Commerce Undersecretary Stuart Eizenstat called the big export gains in smaller cities an encouraging trend.
``Trade must and should be seen as a major source of job creation in these areas,'' he said.
Commerce officials said the 1995 report, titled ``Metropolitan Area Exports,'' was designed to be used as a planning tool for state, local and private organizations seeking to design export-promotion efforts for their areas.
Metro export totals, state export profiles available on Internet at Commerce's International Trade Administration's World Wide Web site: http://www.ita.doc.gov/ tradestats.
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