Exports

Exports of Maryland merchandise rose 9 percent last year to a record $11.8 billion, the International Trade Administration said Tuesday. The state's export sales in 2012 far outpaced the 2011 export sales in places such as Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Australia, the United Kingdom and Egypt, the government data showed. Exports of goods and services for the United States as a whole also reached record levels last year, totaling $2.2 trillion. U.S. Commerce Department officials credited efforts to remove trade barriers and help businesses compete globally with helping boost exports.

The Farm Bill currently making its way through Congress is important to everyone who lives and works in Maryland because it provides critical support to one of the pillars of the state's economy: international trade. The bill, strongly debated in Congress since it was introduced in May 2012 following the expiration of the 2008 U.S. Farm Bill, helps keep the doors open to exports of America's food and agriculture. The debate over this nearly $1 trillion bill is a perfect example of gridlock in Congress: Because it requires balance among so many divisive priorities, including public support of our nation's farmers and ranchers, conservationism, social welfare and the budget deficit, it is a microcosm of our federal budgeting process and requires Congress to approach the situation with a willingness to compromise.

Hoping to increase the number of local businesses with an overseas reach, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Thursday that the state will restart a program that gave $5,000 export-assistance grants to firms but had its funding frozen this fiscal year because of the budget crisis. The planned July 1 revival of the Export MD program is part of his newly announced Maryland Export Initiative, which O'Malley hopes will create jobs by connecting more firms to foreign markets. Just 3 percent of Maryland companies currently export overseas, he said.

A Parkville man was federally indicted on charges that he conspired with a man in Iran to export manufactured industrial products from the U.S., state's attorney's office said Thursday. Authorities believe Ali Saboonchi, 32, ran the Ace Electric Company to obtain goods to send them to businesses run by Arash Rashti Mohammad, 31, in Tehran, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates since November 2009, the five-count indictment said. U.S. economic sanctions prohibit exporting to Iran.

The Baltimore area's top export industries are well-positioned to grow, and metropolitan areas nationwide are expected to play key roles in helping boost U.S. exports — and job growth, according to a study released Monday by the Brookings Institution. The study, Export Nation, offers what its authors say is the first in-depth look at the geography of exporting in the U.S., analyzing exports in the nation's top 100 metropolitan areas. The Baltimore metro area falls in the top third of that category , with $9 billion in annual export production and more than 74,000 export-related jobs.

The Baltimore region showed nearly double-digit growth in export goods and services in 2010, with room to grow, according to a study released Thursday by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based public policy organization. The report, titled "Export Nation," reviewed data collected from the 100 largest U.S. metro areas. Baltimore was ranked 27th, with exports valued at $9.7 billion. U.S. exports, led by manufacturing, grew faster than at any time since 1997, said Emilia Istrate, the study's lead author.

Today marks the second anniversary of President Barack Obama's National Export Initiative (NEI), an ambitious effort to double U.S. exports by the end of 2014 and support millions of American jobs. In 2011, U.S. goods and services exports reached a record $2.1 trillion and supported the growth of American businesses across the country. Moreover, our economy has added private sector jobs for 24 straight months. Cities like Baltimore are fueling America's exporting growth. According to new data from the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA)

On this Labor Day, as most of us enjoy an additional day off, many Marylanders - those who are unemployed - would like nothing better than to no longer have to rest from their labors. What can we do to put them back to work? This summer, Gov. Martin O'Malley convened 16 business and educational leaders for the first meeting of the Governor's International Advisory Council. Our mission was to suggest ways to increase exports from our state and figure out how to attract foreign companies to establish beachheads in Maryland, generating local jobs.

The recession is not without a silver lining. Hard economic times at home are forcing businesses to aggressively seek markets overseas. Yet though exports of Maryland-made goods rose 25 percent to $3.17 billion in 1990, much of the state's foreign trade potential is still untapped. Frederick County is a case in point. Only 63 out the county's 3,000 businesses are selling internationally, although many more could do so.Up to now the county has not pushed exports in a coordinated fashion. But a state-sponsored survey of Frederick companies' foreign sales efforts has now led to discussion about forming an export council.

Kirschner Medical Corp. of Timonium says it will continue most of its exports of orthopedic products despite the removal of a Food and Drug Administration certificate of export this week.The financial impact of the FDA's action on the company will be "negligible," Kirschner Chief Executive C. Scott Harrison said yesterday.The certificate assures foreign countries there is no problem with the manufacturing process, the FDA said, but is not required.After consulting with legal counsel, Mr. Harrison said, the company will continue shipping to more than 30 companies.

A 34-year-old Florida man pleaded guilty late Wednesday to illegally selling night vision goggles and other military style gear online to an undercover federal agent in Baltimore pretending to be an overseas buyer — a charge that could land him in prison for 20 years. Anthony J. Torresi, of Coral Gables, did not have the required U.S. Department of State license to sell the items when he posted them on eBay and then arranged to sell them to a buyer who he believed was in New Zealand, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office of Rod J. Rosenstein.

Exports of Maryland merchandise rose 9 percent last year to a record $11.8 billion, the International Trade Administration said Tuesday. The state's export sales in 2012 far outpaced the 2011 export sales in places such as Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Australia, the United Kingdom and Egypt, the government data showed. Exports of goods and services for the United States as a whole also reached record levels last year, totaling $2.2 trillion. U.S. Commerce Department officials credited efforts to remove trade barriers and help businesses compete globally with helping boost exports.

With the revised route for the Keystone XL pipeline having last week won approval from Nebraska's Republican governor, the geology of North America's most controversial energy project is clear: It has landed President Barack Obama between a rock and a hard place. Having campaigned for an "all of the above" energy policy but also having announced that addressing climate change will be a top priority during his second term, President Obama must choose between enabling TransCanada's petroleum exports and preventing what climatologists fear will quickly provide a huge and disastrous new boost in greenhouse gases.

A Calvert County judge brushed aside Friday a potential legal hurdle to exporting liquefied natural gas via the Chesapeake Bay, ruling that Dominion, the Richmond, Va.-based energy company, does not need the Sierra Club's permission to convert its LNG import terminal at Cove Point. Circuit Judge James P. Salmon said Dominion has the right to export LNG from Cove Point, despite an agreement the company has had for decades giving the Sierra Club and another environmental group a say over the company's expansion of the little-used shipping facility near the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland.

A new study predicts that exporting the nation's cheap, seemingly abundant supplies of natural gas will boost the U.S. economy, giving a nudge to prospects for shipping liquefied fuel abroad from a nearly idle terminal in the Chesapeake Bay. The report, commissioned by the Department of Energy , finds that the economic benefits gained from exporting liquefied natural gas, or LNG, outweigh the impact that higher domestic fuel prices may have...

In a recent commentary ("Say yes to LNG," Nov. 13), Dan Ervin of Salisbury University correctly asserts recent industrial innovations in drilling technology - known generally as fracking - have led to an enormous surplus of natural gas in our domestic market. Resulting historic low gas prices benefit the consumer but challenge the profit margins of the energy industry. Mr. Ervin argues exporting LNG can raise the price of natural gas and therefore re-start high production rates, in the process creating jobs and revenue.

AS A STATE, economically speaking, Maryland has come a long way since the recession of 1991.Its companies -- particularly its finance and manufacturing companies -- are leaner and better-focused than they were early in the decade, though it took painful layoffs and consolidations to get them there.Maryland added such crucial "New Economy" industries as telecommunications and biotechnology. Both are growing nicely.And it's even made some progress shedding its reputation as a state that's hostile to business.

While the trade agreement hammered out last week between the United States and Japan establishes a framework for possible progress, it holds the potential of boosting Maryland exports to Japan, according to state officials and business executives."

I would like to respond to the recent commentary about liquefied natural gas by Dan Ervin ("Say yes to LNG," Nov. 14). Mr. Ervin is described as a "professor of finance at Salisbury University," and he writes from that point of view, but only in a one-sided way. In order to show both sides, we need a cost/benefit analysis that includes not just short-term profits some Marylanders could make, but also what the short and long-term costs would be for...

The debate about whether the United States should export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Cove Point and other waterfront terminals has been going on for months. It is time for action. The United States has an abundance of cheap natural gas, thanks to a revolution in gas production. An innovative technique that combines hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling has opened up geologic formations containing billions of cubic feet of gas. The supply of natural gas soared, while demand did not keep pace, leading to a collapse in natural gas prices.