Chickens and oil - exporting to Russia.

• Author: Barry, Doug

The value of exports to Russia from major U.S. ports on the West Coast, including Alaska, slipped in 1995 after a record high in 1994. The value of exports from Alaska, and the Seattle and San Francisco areas, fell 30 percent to just under $488 million. Overall, U.S. exports to Russia in 1995 topped $3.2 billion, up from $2.9 billion, according to the Alaska Center for International Business at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

What was the No. 1 U.S. export item to Russia in 1995? Chickens. Russians bought processed chickens worth more than $581 million, up from $305 million in 1994.

One major reason for the drop in West Coast exports was that Russia's private airlines bought fewer Boeing jetliners - about $220 million fewer. Exports of commercial aircraft from Seattle totalled $119 million for 1995. These big-ticket items accounted for about half the value of exports from Seattle to Russia in 1994. In 1995, airplanes accounted for about 20 percent of total exports, suggesting that while the total value of exports dropped, Russian buyers imported a larger variety and volume of U.S. goods. Here's a quick summary of West Coast imports to Russia.

Alaska Exports

Exports from Alaska to Russia totaled $26 million in 1995, down from $30 million in 1994. But if the value of fishing boats worth $14 million exported in 1994 are considered, the average value of all other items exported in 1995 increased. The top items by value are refined oil products worth $9.9 million, wood pulp worth $1.6 million, and machine parts worth $1.1 million. These and other items show stable patterns of purchases during the past several years, although many of the specific items seem to change from year to year.

Rounding out the top 10 items exported from Alaska are machinery, spare parts, and telecommunications equipment needed to improve infrastructure and expand the mining industry in the Russian Far East. For example, $763,000 worth of minerals-sorting machinery is scheduled for investment in mining the Kubaka gold deposit, located about 430 miles northeast of Magadan.

Excluding the value of air freight, Alaska exports for 1995 totaled $2.6 billion, up from $2.4 billion in 1994. Japan was Alaska's No. 1 customer, accounting for 62 percent of total value.

While sales to Russia are only about 1 percent of the value of total exports, the Russian Far East market has gone from nothing a few years ago to an increasingly important market for a number of Alaska companies...