Source: http://worldcityweb.com/home/MIA/publications/magazine/14/515/

1Q Miami trade: exports- Cashing in on computers

by Claudio Mendonça

Cashing in on computers

Tech exports are on the rise, dramatically boosting South Florida’s trade surplus.

South Florida is on the way to widening its trade surplus in 2006 thanks to first quarter export growth of 19 percent, led by computers and computer parts.

The Miami Customs District exported $9.3 billion-worth of goods in the first quarter while importing $7.8 billion. That trade surplus of $1.5 billion compared with just more than $250 million in the first quarter 2005. The leading destination for South Florida exports was Brazil at $1.5 billion, up 25 percent from the same period last year. Venezuela followed at $856 million, a gain of 24 percent, and Costa Rica was the third most important export destination, taking in nearly $634 million in goods a 42 percent hike.

The 2006 jumpstart gave the Customs district a good chance of breaking last year’s surplus mark. For 2005 as a whole, Miami posted the biggest trade surplus of any major Customs district: nearly $2.2 billion. That was $1 billion more than in 2004.

Computer products dominated first quarter exports, according to WorldCity analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. Through March, computer parts were the leading commodity leaving the Customs district, which includes airports and seaports from Fort Pierce south to Key West.

South Florida shipped nearly $694 million-worth of computer parts in the first three months of the year, a 51 percent jump from the same period in 2005. Most were headed to Latin America, including Brazil, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Colombia.

Brazil alone accounted for nearly $248 million of the computer part shipments, a threefold increase from last year. But it was Costa Rica that saw computer part shipments skyrocket. South Florida sends nearly $84 million in shipments in the first quarter of 2006, compared with less than $15 million a year earlier. Venezuela and Colombia proved strong markets, as well. South Florida sent $67 million in computer parts to Venezuela, up from $55.5 million, and nearly $65 million to Colombia, an increase from $37.5 million in early 2005.

Computers were the second most valuable export, totaling nearly $607 million a 25 percent hike from the first quarter of 2005. The single biggest destination receiving nearly $105-million worth was Paraguay. That was a 61 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. Shipments to Brazil, meanwhile, rose 13 percent to nearly $88 million. Venezuela received just more than $65 million in computer parts from South Florida while exports to Colombia reached $63 million.

Computers and computer parts have been alternating in the export roster’s top two spots since 2003. South Florida also exported nearly $351 million in computer chips from January to March, an increase of 13 percent.

Another tech-related commodity transmission devices for cellular phones was the third most important export, climbing 18 percent to close the quarter at $407.5 million.

Outside of technology, the Customs district exported $672.4 million in airplane parts in the first quarter, a gain of 33 percent. Those shipments were split between two commodity categories: $356.4 million-worth of aircraft parts and $316 million-worth of regional jet parts.

Among top export products, heavy construction equipment saw the biggest increase more than doubling from the first quarter of 2005 to exceed $104 million. Most of that equipment went to Venezuela, where a construction boom is underway, largely as a result of public works projects. For the first quarter of 2006, construction equipment exports to Venezuela neared $21 million a colossal gain from the $2.9 million in construction equipment exported in 2005.