Benchmarks : Arizona Exports by Metropolitan Statistical Areas

Lora Mwaniki-Lyman and Valorie Hanni Rice
Source: International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

June 2008

Introduction

Data on U.S. exports of goods by major U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) is now available from the International Trade Administration’s Office of Trade and Industry Information (OTII). The OTII site provides export data for major U.S. metro areas by dollar value, share of state exports, top North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) categories and destination, among others for the years 2005 and 2006. Other trade data available from the Industry and Trade Analysis OTII interactive data-web resource includes: imports, exports, or balance of trade by states, countries, geographic regions, or trade/economic regions; by commodities; by year, month, or year-to-date; and by dollar amounts, dollar changes, or percentage changes.

Arizona Metropolitan Statistical Areas

Metropolitan statistical areas identified in the OTII data-web resource are as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. Arizona’s six metropolitan statistical areas defined by OMB in December 2006 update are: Flagstaff MSA, representing Coconino County; Lake Havasu City-Kingman MSA, representing Mohave County; Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale MSA representing Maricopa and Pinal Counties; Prescott MSA, representing Yavapai County; Tucson MSA representing Pima County; and Yuma MSA representing Yuma County. Lake Havasu City-Kingman was identified as a Metropolitan Statistical Area by OMB in 2006. Consequently export data for Lake Havasu City-Kingman MSA is not available for 2005.

Ranked by 2006 Census population estimates Arizona MSAs would be listed in this order: Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale (4,046,914), Tucson (948,704), Prescott (206,738), Lake Havasu-Kingman (191,652), Yuma (185,841), and Flagstaff (126,083).

By definition, a metropolitan area consists of one or more counties with a “core urban area” that has a population of 50,000 or more. Adjacent counties are included in a metro area if they have a large number of people who commute into the main county for work or are otherwise connected economically or socially.

Arizona Exports by Metropolitan Statistical Areas

According to OTII, the Phoenix metro area accounted for 69.19% of all Arizona 2006 exports. Phoenix ranked 20th while the Tucson metro area ranked 61 out of 362 U.S. metro areas by 2006 export value. In all, Arizona’s six metro areas accounted for 92.5% of Arizona exports to the global market.

Table 1: Arizona Exports by Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 2005 - 2006

The OTII reports Arizona exports to have grown from $12.92 billion in 2005 to $15.83 billion in 2006.  Data provided by OTII are based on an Origin of Movement (OM) ZIP-code-based series and are therefore not comparable with an OM state-based series, like those available from TradeStats Express or WISER.  (As a contrast, the state-based export series shows $14.95 billion in 2005, $18.29 billion in 2006 and19.19 billion in 2007 for Arizona.)  Consequently, it is important to use the OTII data-web resource state data when making comparisons with metro area export data.  See the Bureau's Foreign Trade Division site for more information on OM series.

Exports of goods to the global market for all of Arizona’s metro areas increased between 2005 and 2006. Prescott metro area recorded the highest growth rate among Arizona’s metro areas and ranked 11th in export growth among all 362 U.S. metro areas.

Table 2: Arizona Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Ranked by Growth, 2005 - 2006

The top export industry for the Phoenix metro area in 2006 was computer and electronic products (NAICS 334). This industry alone accounted for more than half of its total exports. Transportation equipment (NAICS 336) was the second highest contributor to Phoenix exports in 2006, representing about one tenth of its total exports. See table 3 below.

Table 3. Arizona MSAs – Top 5 export industries by 3-digit NAICS, 2006 Export Value

Flagstaff MSA

Lake Havasu City-Kingman MSA

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale MSA

Prescott MSA

Tucson MSA

Yuma MSA

Computer and electronic products (NAICS 334) was among the top five competitive industries by 2006 export value for the Tucson metro area.  This accounted for close to a third of Tucson’s 2006 total exports.  Tucson is also the only metro area in Arizona that reported the mining (except gas and oil) industry (NAICS 212) as one of its top 5 competitive sectors based in 2006 export values. The value of mining exports was not provided to avoid disclosing figures for individual companies.

Crop production (NAICS 111) sector is a major export contributor in the Yuma metro area while manufacturing (NAICS 321 – 327) accounts for half of Mohave county (as represented by Lake Havasu City-Kingman metro area) global exports.

Arizona Metropolitan Statistical Areas - Export Destination ($ 000's)

When assessing export destination, it is significant to note the importance of NAFTA markets to Tucson and the Asia market to Phoenix MSAs. Tucson exports to NAFTA accounted for more than a third of its 2006 exports to the global market.  Phoenix on the other hand exported more than double of its 2006 global exports to Asia than it did to NAFTA member countries.  APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. APEC is made of 21 member economies including some countries in Asia, NAFTA-member countries and the Russian Federation.

Conclusion

The new export data by major U.S. metro areas provides a perspective of the competitiveness of local areas within a state. Combined with the new Gross Domestic Product by MSA data released last year by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the U.S. Department of Commerce, metropolitan area export data empowers local leaders with more tools and information about their local economies. This provides more information for policy and decision makers on how to best focus economic development, attract export-driven jobs and cluster industries to their economies.

There was an earlier series for metropolitan export data provided by the International Trade Administration and the Bureau of the Census that was discontinued in 2001. Unfortunately, comparisons between that and the current series cannot be made as the methodology has changed.

The new metropolitan export series was introduced in January with 2005 and 2006 data.  A release date for 2007 data has not yet been determined.  There are plans to release data twice a year, one release for the first half and another that includes the second half as well as annual data.