Data shows positive export numbers

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Merchandise exports from the Mahoning Valley is healthy, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration.

The data show exports from the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman metropolitan area totaled $1.4 billion in 2013.

“This is very, very positive for the area both in business sales and also in increased employment,” said Mousa Kassis, adviser of the International Trade Assistance Center at Youngstown State University. “We should always focus on the global market.”

Key merchandise exports for the area last year were transportation equipment, primary metal manufactures, machinery, fabricated metal products and electrical equipment, according to the Commerce Department report.

“Trading partners in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] were the leading destinations for Youngstown exports,” the report says.

Under NAFTA, merchandise trade is made among the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Kassis said plastics, precision machinery and electronics were some of the main products shipped globally from the Youngstown area.

The International Trade Assistance Center at YSU advises companies and directs them to go global, Kassis said.

“We help them with documentation, training, international logistics and export regulation,” Kassis said. “We see more and more companies get into the global market.”

The Youngstown-Warren metro area was featured in Business Facilities magazine’s Metro Rankings Report and ranked No. 1 in export growth leaders top 10, No. 5 in export recovery leaders, and No. 9 in the lowest cost-of-living ranking.

The magazine cited the Brookings Institution study that ranked Youngstown first in the nation for export growth from 2009 to 2012 and sixth in the export intensity of its economy.