N.H. export growth ranks 3rd in U.S.

In the first seven months of 2010, New Hampshire exports increased by an annual rate of 45.3 percent in the first seven months of 2010 over the same period in 2009 – a performance that puts the state third among the 50 states in terms of export growth.Nationally, exports rose 2.7 percent in July to $107.7 billion. Through the first seven months of 2010, total U.S. exports increased by 22.1 percent over the first seven months of 2009.For July, New Hampshire exports rose by 7.6 percent in July from June, to $366.4 million. New Hampshire’s July exports topped July 2009 totals by $122 million, or 49.9 percent.Exports of manufactured goods accounted for 54 percent of all New Hampshire exports, decreasing 25.8 percent in July to $199.5 million from June and were at the same level as July 2009. Exports of non-manufactured goods rose 133 percent in July, to $166.9 million.Following an exceptionally strong recovery in the first quarter of 2010, the growth of global trade has substantially slowed down, according to the latest available monthly statistics.The annual growth rate of the dollar value of worldwide exports, measured by the International Monetary Fund, reached an impressive peak of 30 percent in March 2010, compared with a negative growth rate of 34 percent in April 2009, which was the worst month in the modern history of global trade.In June 2010 – the latest month that trade data from all countries are available in the IMF – the annual growth rate of worldwide exports, although positive, declined for a third month in a row, posting a 19 percent gain, compared with 30 percent in March.About 1,100 executives from 116 countries participated in the World Economic Survey, conducted in the third quarter of 2010. The view was that the global economic climate “clouded over slightly” in the third quarter of 2010.Looking forward at the next six months, the executives expect the global economy to improve from the current levels, but at a slower pace than in the last two quarters.Evangelos Simos, chief economist of the consulting and research firm e-forecasting.com, is international affairs editor of the Journal of Business Forecasting and professor at the Whittemore School of Business & Economics, University of New Hampshire. He may be reached at eosimos@e-forecasting.com.