Source: http://worldcityweb.com/home/MIA/publications/magazine/38/762/

Gasoline IN, garmets OUT

by WC

Refined petroleum products are South Florida’s most valuable imports.

Petroleum products remain unchallenged as the single-most valuable import entering the Miami Customs District, but a long-time mainstay commodity apparel is on the wane.

South Florida recorded $16.1 billion in imports from January to June, a 5.7 percent increase compared with the first semester of 2005.

Four of the top 20 imports to the Miami Customs District were clothing items, but three of the four saw declines. Much of South Florida’s garment imports come from the Dominican Republic and Central America, which have posted lower trade growth in recent years as a result of competition from China.

Refined petroleum products, which moved into the No. 1 import spot in 2005, unseating aircraft, continued their skyrocketing growth. They rose nearly 84 percent in value in the first six months of 2006, compared with the same period a year earlier, largely due to the leap in the price of oil on world markets. The bulk of the petroleum imports, principally from Venezuela and the Caribbean, entered South Florida at Port Everglades.

When it comes to apparel, the Dominican Republic is South Florida’s biggest source of clothing. After a nearly flat 2005, the Caribbean nation saw its trade with the Miami Customs District rise 3 percent in the first six months of 2006. Imports from Honduras, another apparel-assembly nation, jumped 9 percent but those from neighboring Guatemala dropped a dramatic 12 percent. Sixty percent of all U.S.-bound cargo from Guatemala is clothing, and the Miami Customs District is its top point of entry.

Central America has been trying to leverage its proximity to the United States as it confronts growing competition from inexpensive clothing from China and Vietnam. The trade preferences provided by the United States-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement are expected to help.

In anticipation of that, some of the countries are positioning to strengthen their apparel sectors. In Nicaragua, for example, Cone Denim, part of International Textile Group, recently announced it would open a $90 million manufacturing pant in Managua. It will be the largest building ever construction in the country.

In the first semester aircraft slipped even farther down South Florida’s import list, landing in the No. 7 spot. The fastest growing import commodity, meanwhile, was scrap made of precious metals. The value of those shipments jumped nearly threefold.