DECEMBER EXPORT UPDATE:

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Heartland Exports See Big Boost in December

Despite a stronger dollar, Heartland new export orders escalated in December bringing some good news to close out 2011. The export index rose to 56.3, growing much faster than anticipated.

Fourth quarter exports averaged 52.8, slightly higher than 2010 4Q’s 52.3.

“All in all, 2011 was a good year for Heartland exporters,” said Professor Ernie Goss, Ph.D., MacAllister Chair and Professor of Economics at Creighton University, who tracks the Heartland International Index for InterMark3 and IBNews, “despite a stronger dollar and economic weakness among world trading partners. Going forward, however, I think we will see some downward push on exports due to the stronger dollar.”

It’s worth noting that the dollar has increased 5.3% over the past two months.

Nationally, new export orders were less robust in December, but still growing at 53.0, up a bit from November’s 52.0. Regionally, Imports registered no growth in December, slipping to 48.0, down from November’s 49.5. Prof. Goss attributed the slackening of imports to a chronic regional business growth.

	2011				2010
Exports	Dec	56.3			Dec	54.1
	Nov	52.1			Nov	50.8
	Oct	50.0			Oct	51.9
Imports	Dec	48.0			Dec	50.0
	Nov	49.5			Nov	51.4
	Oct	48.0			Oct	50.9

The Heartland International Index is a leading economic indicator measuring monthly changes in new export orders and imports based on a survey of Institute of Supply Managers for the 9-state region of Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota.