Statistics

Six-month report: U.S. trade increases 13 percent, with fast growth from red-hot Chile

August 24th, 2006

U.S. trade with the world grew at a 12.6 percent rate through the first six months of the year to more than $1.4 trillion, fueled by above-average growth from many of the usual suspects plus a strong performance by a relative newcomer to the fast-growth club.

China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria the manufacturing giant and three oil producers continue to benefit from America’s appetite for inexpensive consumables and that increasingly expensive combustible, respectively.

But it is Chile that is hot.

Chile, which joined North America Free Trade Agreement partners the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2004, is enjoying a $2.2 billion, 38 percent growth through June, according to the most recent U.S. Census statistics available for WorldCity analysis. Of that $2.2 billion increase, almost $1.6 billion was in imports.

Consequently, the U.S. deficit with Chile, which had been running between $549 million and $757 billion the last three years at the six-month mark, has suddenly doubled.

The big change is refined copper. The value of copper imports is three times what it was in the first six months of 2005 and has already surpassed the $1.5 billion registered all of last year. All of that copper heads to Panama City, a seaport located in the Florida Panhandle. Chile was responsible for about 40 percent of all copper imports into the United States through the first six months of the year.

Like many commodities, copper has enjoyed a significant run-up in price, largely due to China’s seemingly insatiable appetite for raw materials, everything from soy beans to oil to copper. But price is not the whole story: The weight of the copper imported into Panama City increased from 262 to 424 short weight tons.

Because of the surge in Chilean copper imports, the Tampa Customs district, which includes Panama City, is one of the nation’s fastest growing through the first six months of the year. It registered a 45 percent increase and moved up four slots to rank as the nation’s 23-busiest Customs district in the nation.

Other fast-growing Customs districts include Houston, Philadelphia, Dallas and Great Falls, Montana, which includes Denver.

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