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Texas export numbers questionable at best

By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator

Dallas, TX – The headline in today's Dallas Morning News Business Section exclaims that Texas leads the states in Exports. Wow, isn't that great for us, but it might not be accurate. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.

According to the Massachusetts Institute for Social and Economic Research, MISER, Texas indeed has taken the number one spot from California in exports. That said, it still hasn't been a great year for us. For the first six months of 2002, exports are down nearly 7% from last year. And regrettably for California, their exports were down 20%. When I spoke with a trade data analyst at MISER, she told me that Texas is credited for 40% of all exports to Mexico. That's huge! But is it true?

Now, Bernard Weinstein, the guru economist for UNT, told the Morning News that we better be careful of those numbers, as the count is made at the point of exit. That's strange, why would they do that? According to Patrick Shaugnassy, spokesperson for Texas Economic Development, Laredo is the busiest inland port in the country and Houston has the busiest deep-sea shipping port. That said, why count the ports and not the state where the goods were manufactured? Shaugnassy could only say that's correct, but Texas does benefit when we have to warehouse some goods for other states.

So, back to the Data Analyst at MISER. She also agreed that these figures are counted at the Origin of Movement, Texas, and not the Exporter Location, example Ohio. Still scratching my head, I wanted to know why. This methodology doesn't make sense. It turns out the Department of Commerce believes, through their findings, that by using the Exporter Location, there were inconsistencies in the electronically-recorded Shipping Export Declarations. So for now, use the Origin of Movement. I asked MISER, just for the heck of it, if we use Exporter Location, what were our exports to Mexico? Only 5%. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.

Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.