Staff Report 
Columbia Regional Business Report

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration reported Friday that merchandise exports from the Columbia metropolitan area totaled a record $1.5 billion in 2012, an increase of 1%, or $17 million, compared with the prior year.

Key merchandise export categories for the Columbia metropolitan area in 2012 included plastics and rubber products, machinery, chemicals, transportation equipment, and computer and electronic products.

Trading partners in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and NAFTA regions were the leading destinations for Columbia exports.

In 2012, U.S. companies reached an all-time record of $2.2 trillion in goods and services exported, supporting nearly 10 million jobs, according to Francisco Sanchez, undersecretary of commerce for international trade at the U.S. Commerce Department.

The trade agency also reported 153 U.S. metropolitan areas exported more than $1 billion in merchandise in 2012. More than 200 metropolitan areas registered positive export growth between 2011 and 2012 — with 170 reaching record export levels.

“These export numbers show that even in these challenging economic times, area companies continue to enhance their competitiveness and bottom line by making new sales abroad,” said Dorette Coetsee, director of the U.S. Commercial Service Export Assistance Center in Columbia, in a news release. “Our office can take companies through the process of exporting and help determine which partner or distribution channel is best.”

The International Trade Administration works with American businesses to identify export opportunities for their products and services to bolster the president’s National Export Initiative, which aims to double U.S. exports by the end of 2014.

Ranking export markets

Here’s how metro areas around South Carolina rank in exports for 2012, according to the International Trade Administration’s list of 374 metropolitan statistical areas in the United States.

Source: International Trade Administration