WorldCity Business Magazine

South Florida's booming Asia trade

by WC

For the first time ever, annual trade with Asia will likely have surpassed 10 percent of South Florida’s total when 2004 figures are released this month.

Imports from China are, of course, leading the way, but imports from South Korea and Singapore are also registering above-average import growth with South Florida, according to WorldCity analysis of U.S. Census statistics.

South Florida’s trade is likely to increase a solid 12 percent in 2004 to somewhere in the vicinity of $57 billion, the best performance ever, but the Asian nations’ trade with South Florida will likely surpass 15 percent.

Asia is a more important trade partner for other U.S. Customs districts around the country. The Asian component of total U.S. of trade, at almost 33 percent, is triple that of Asian percentage of trade with South Florida, according to WorldCity analysis. Much of that muscle is from China and Japan, which are the United States’ No. 3 and No. 4 trade partners, behind Canada and Mexico.

For the South Florida Customs district, which runs from Palm Beach County in the north to Monroe County in the Florida Keys, Latin America and the Caribbean have long been the foundation of its import export activity.

Nine of the top 10 trade partners with South Florida are, in fact, from Latin America or the Caribbean. China, currently in 7th place, is the only exception.

China’s import boom, which is reshaping the West Coast ports and the U.S. and global economies, is also affecting South Florida. WorldCity projects that the increase in 2004 of Chinese imports into South Florida will top $550 million. That one-year increase, alone, is more than South Florida bilateral trade with all but about two dozen nations.

But other Asian nations are also participating, though the other Asian giant, India, is not. Trade with India will be down in 2004.

South Korea is likely to register a $100- plus million increase in imports with Greater Miami’s airports and seaports. Singapore’s import trade with South Florida is likely to be up $30 million when the 2004 numbers are released, according to World- City projections.

With Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia, the prime driver of the increase in trade in 2004 is on the export side products leaving South Florida for Asia.

Outside of Asia, South Florida’s trade can be broken into five relatively equal groups, led by Central America and the Mercosur nations of South America at roughly 20 percent, and Europe, the Caribbean and the Andean nations of South America at roughly 15 percent each.