R.I. 31st among states for YTD drop in exports in August

FOREIGN SALES from Rhode Island exporting companies fell 24.8 percent year over year in August, with $135.9 million worth of goods leaving the state for international markets compared with $180.6 million in August 2014, e-forecasting said. / COURTESY E-FORECASTING
FOREIGN SALES from Rhode Island exporting companies fell 24.8 percent year over year in August, with $135.9 million worth of goods leaving the state for international markets compared with $180.6 million in August 2014, e-forecasting said. / COURTESY E-FORECASTING

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked 31st among the 50 states for its 6.7 percent drop in exports during the first eight months of the year compared with the same period last year, according to e-forecasting.com. That figure is slightly more than the 6.1 percent fall experienced by the United States year to date.

Foreign sales from Rhode Island exporting companies fell 24.8 percent year over year for the month of August, with $135.9 million worth of goods leaving the state for international markets compared with $180.6 million in August 2014. By comparison, exports nationally fell nearly 10 percent to $124.5 billion from $138.2 billion.

State export numbers are adjusted for seasonal variation by e-forecasting to bring them in line with national trade numbers.

Seventy-seven percent of all state exports in August were from manufactured goods, something e-forecasting called an “important contributor to overall economic development and the driving force of local jobs.”

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Shipments abroad from state manufacturers decreased 22.4 percent year over year in August to $105.1 million, from $135.5 million in August 2014.

Exports of non-manufactured goods fell 31.7 percent in August to $30.8 million from $45.1 million a year ago. This group of shipments abroad consists of agricultural goods, mining products and re-exports, which are foreign goods that entered the state as imports and are exported in substantially the same condition as when imported.

The International Monetary Fund projects global economic growth to average 3.1 percent this year, a decline from 3.4 percent in 2014. The IMF predicts worldwide economic growth to increase to 3.6 percent in 2016.

“The weaker than expected growth outlook for 2016 reflects setbacks to economic activity in the advanced economies next year. In the key export markets of the industrial countries, which includes the United States, European economies, Canada, Australia and Japan, IMF predicts economic growth to average just 2.2 percent in 2016,” e-forecasting said.

IMF, e-forecasting said, also predicts export growth for industrial countries to average 3.1 percent in 2015 and “slightly accelerate” to 3.4 percent in 2016. Emerging economies are expected to see average export growth of 3.9 percent this year and 4.8 percent in 2016.

“In view of these future trends, Rhode Island companies doing business abroad are expected to witness somewhat better levels of export orders from their major foreign markets next year, especially from clients in emerging economies,” e-forecasting said.

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