-June 19,2019-
from Beacon Economics
California’s California’s merchandise export trade continued to slide lower for the third straight month, according to Beacon Economics’ analysis of the latest U.S. trade statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Exports by California businesses totaled $13.86 billion for the month, a nominal 7.5% decline from the $14.98 billion recorded in April 2018. Exports of manufactured goods, totaling $8.96 billion, were 7.2% down from the $9.66 billion reported in the same month last year. Shipments abroad of non-manufactured goods (chiefly agricultural products and raw materials) fell by 10.9% to $1.71 billion from $1.92 billion. The value of re-exported goods meanwhile slipped by 6.2% to $3.19 billion from $3.40 billion.
“To be fair, comparing this April’s export trade with April 2018 is loading the dice since last April was largely avant le deluge,” said Jock O’Connell, Beacon Economics’ International Trade Advisor. “It was in April of last year when America’s major trading partners began retaliating against the tariffs the Trump administration had imposed earlier on imported steel and aluminum. Things have gone downhill ever since.”
But higher tariffs applied to a steadily expanding list of goods were not the sole reason for the state’s lagging export trade. A stronger dollar, lower prices on some export commodities, a slowdown in economic growth abroad, and even worsening traffic congestion at U.S.-Mexico border crossings, contributed to the decline.
The April drop in the dollar value of California’s export trade was manifested at California’s major international trade gateways. The number of loaded export containers shipped from the state’s three major container ports (the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland) dropped by 6.7% from one year earlier, while airborne export tonnage from LAX was down by 9.3%.
The strengthening U.S. dollar continued to discourage foreigners from buying California goods. The Bloomberg Dollar Index shows the greenback’s value relative to a basket of other major currencies was up nearly 8% in April from the same time one year earlier. California accounted for 10.3% of the nation’s overall merchandise export trade in April, down from 10.9% one year ago. Through the first four months of 2019, the state’s $57.49 billion in merchandise exports was lagging last year’s $59.26 billion total by 3.0%.