Orange County’s Share of State’s Exports Slipped in 2000
By CHRIS CZIBORR
It’s official.
Orange County exported $10.9 billion worth of goods in 2000, a 17% jump from 1999. That’s according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, which issued the 2000 export figures last week and lags by about a year in tracking local shipments.
The figures reflect a pre-downturn economy last year and show that the county’s major trading partners enjoyed relative economic health in 2000, according to Esmael Adibi, director of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University in Orange.
“Our trading partners enjoyed significant growth in their economic activity, and so they bought more goods and services from the rest of the world, including us,” Adibi said. “This was especially true for our biggest trading partners,Mexico, Canada and Japan.”
OC’s export growth last year outpaced 1999’s 13.4% increase, according to the Commerce Department.
“2000 was a great year for our export markets and this is true also for California as a whole,” Adibi said.
When 2001 export figures are tallied, the county’s export growth likely will be tempered, observers said. Both Mexico and Canada followed the U.S. into recession this year, and Japan’s long-term economic struggles got worse.
“Things will be dramatically different for 2001,” said Vincent Dropsy, an associate professor of economics at California State University, Fullerton. “The world economy has slowed down substantially,even Asia is almost back in a recession, and Europe is barely growing.”
Cal State Fullerton predicts county export growth will drop to 6.8% for 2001 and decline further next year before rebounding in 2003. Local exports stand to feel the fallout of Sept. 11, which has pushed up shipping costs and chilled economic activity, Dropsy said.
Despite posting strong 2000 growth, OC exporters lagged counterparts in the rest of the state, according to the Commerce Department. Statewide shipments grew at a 22% clip, going from $97.9 billion in 1999 to $119.6 billion last year.
In 1999, OC,with 8.4% of California’s population,accounted for 9.5% of the state’s exports. In 2000, the county grabbed a slightly lower 9.1% share of state exports.
Adibi said Europe and China,export markets that are more important to the rest of California than OC,did comparatively better than OC’s top trading partners, Mexico, Canada and Japan.
