Minn. manufactured exports rise 17% from same time last year

Minnesota's manufactured exports jumped 17 percent in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

Manufactured exports of factory goods like electrical equipment and fabricated metal enjoyed the third strongest quarter in state history, according to the Minnesota Trade Office.

The Trade Office's acting director Ed Dieter said industrial machinery and transportation equipment had an especially strong performance in the June-September months. Dieter said a lot of that industrial equipment has gone to places like China and Japan.

"The business executives I talk to are telling me -- and have been telling me since the end of last yea r-- that if they had markets for their products in Asia, they've been growing really strongly this year," Dieter said. "Asia's come back from the recession more quickly than Europe or the U.S."

However, exports of medical technology products dropped in the third quarter. Dieter the drop was largely due to declining shipments to Ireland, where several Minnesota med tech companies have facilities.

"A lot of the exports to Ireland in the medical technology field were what we call intra-company," he said. "So they were shipping partial assemblies to factories in Ireland which were then completed and shipped on to markets all over the world. Dieter said product life cycles and demand may have caused companies to ship less to Ireland.

Exports to North America and Asia each leapt 25 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2009.