Texas exports outshine all states; DFW ranks 2nd behind Houston

Texas export volumes surpass other states by a substantial and growing margin, and the Dallas-Fort Worth metro ranks second in the state behind Houston in merchandise exports, according to a report this week by The Perryman Group.

Texas export shipments of merchandise totaled $251.1 billion in 2015, according to the Office of Trade and Economic Analysis, which is part of the International Trade Administration of the US Department of Commerce. California ranked a distant second with $165.4 billion.

 

The goods from Texas were bound for more than 200 markets around the globe. In terms of industries, Texas’ largest export category was computer and electronic products, with $45.4 billion of the total merchandise exported last year. Petroleum and coal products exports added to $44.1 billion, chemicals totaled $39.9 billion, machinery (not counting electrical) totaled $24.8 billion, and transportation equipment made up $23.2 billion.

Goods exports from Texas supported more than 1 million jobs, measured as of 2015, which is significantly more than any other state, the Waco-based Perryman Group report says.

“The economic benefits of this export activity are massive, encompassing production and manufacturing as well as logistics and distribution,” the report says. “Moreover, the ripples through the economy multiply these effects several times over.”

Merchandise exports from metro areas statewide were substantial, the Office of Trade and Economic Analysis indicates. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land topped the list with $119.0 billion, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington with $28.7 billion. Next came San Antonio-New Braunfels ($25.8 billion), El Paso ($20.1 billion), Austin-Round Rock ($9.4 billion), Beaumont-Port Arthur ($8.2 billion), Laredo ($6.3 billion), Brownsville-Harlingen ($5.4 billion), McAllen-Edinburg-Mission ($5.3 billion), and Corpus Christi ($5.1 billion).

Corporations of all sizes benefited from exporting. More than 41,500 companies exported from Texas locations in 2013. More than 93 percent of them were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees, Perryman’s report says.

Looking ahead, crude oil is likely to become a major component of exports, M. Ray Perryman, president and CEO of The Perryman Group, said in the report. Earlier this year, Congress and the Obama administration legalized crude oil exports from the United States for the first time since the energy crisis of the mid-1970s.

Original article by Bill Hethcock, Dallas Business Journal, August 24, 2016. Link to the original article here.