WorldCity Business Magazine

Imports are taking off

by Mary Dempsey

Rising oil prices on the global market turned refined petroleum imports into the most valuable cargo entering South Florida in the first six months of 2005. The value of incoming shipments of non-crude petroleum products, nearly all of which enter the area through Port Everglades, soared nearly 86% in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period of 2004, to top $1.1 billion.

Overall, imports to the area posted a 14.6 percent uptake, according to WORLDCITY’S*analysis of U.S. trade figures.

As non-crude petroleum products skipped to the top of Miami’s import list, aircraft imports the traditional leader of the import list moved into second place. Aircraft imports grew in value by nearly 7.6 percent compared to the first half of 2004, to total just more than $1 billion. But the half-a-billion-dollar jump in petroleum products’ worth, compared to the same six months last year, made it a formidable competitor.

Most of the aircraft imports to Miami are planes shipped to the United States by Brazilian jet manufacturer Embraer, which has an office in Fort Lauderdale. Globally, Embraer delivered 60 aircraft during the first six months of the year. U.S. customers included American Eagle, Express Jet, Republic Airways, Jet Blue, US Airways and Midwest Airlines, all of which took deliveries of aircraft earlier this year.

Meanwhile, although computer exports from Miami were on the upswing (see Booting Up on p. 34), computer imports also rose, by more than 31 percent to push computers to the No. 10 import spot, from No. 14 during the same period last year.

When it came it import value, the top trading country in the region remains Brazil, which sent nearly $1.9 billion-worth of a wide range of goods to South Florida in the first half of 2005. That marked a healthy jump of nearly 15 percent when compared to the same period of 2004. It also was double the import value of goods from Miami’s No 2 trading partner, the Dominican Republic.

The only other country that even came close to Brazil’s strong performance was China, which sent $1.5 billion in goods to South Florida, an increase of 36 percent when compared to January-to-June of 2004.

Looking at growth in imports from a single country, Mexico was the winner in the first half of 2005. Shipments entering Florida from the NAFTA-member country rose 64 percent, to nearly $243 million, compared with the first half of 2004.