Update on China in Alaska: Dragon Decade roars with rapid growth.

• Author: Wolf, Greg
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: World Trade Alaska

The rise of China during the past thirty years as a major economic power has been felt around the world, including Alaska. As a Pacific Rim neighbor, blessed with an abundance of natural resources, the state is well positioned to benefit from China's continuing growth and modernization. Alaska can supply not only much-needed resources, but increasingly can also offer a range of high-demand technical and professional services by companies operating in Alaska that have developed world-class expertise and capabilities.

Alaska is also benefiting from the rise of air cargo traffic from China to the US mainland through the Anchorage airport, and statistics show that an increasing number of Chinese tourists are visiting the Great Land. As an investor, China is moving into Alaska and will become even more involved in years to come as it seeks supplies of natural resources and to play a role in Arctic development.

Export growth has been staggering. Alaska's exports to China rose from $103 million in 2000 to a record high of nearly $1.5 billion in 2011 in what we have coined as the Dragon Decade. China is now the state's largest trading partner. This rapid growth as a market for Alaska exports is unprecedented--never before has a market grown so fast, to such a level, in such a short period of time. While in 2012 exports slipped somewhat to $1.3 billion, this was still the second highest on record.

Further Growth Ahead

And, as large and significant of a customer that China is now for Alaska, there are ample reasons to believe that further growth lies ahead. For example, as new mineral and metal mining projects come online, or as existing mines expand, China will inevitably be there as a big customer. Should a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project be developed in Alaska, China could emerge as a significant buyer. These developments, and other such opportunities, portend continuing growth of the Alaska-China trade relationship for many years to come.

At present, seafood is the largest export category to China. In 2012, at $760 million, seafood shipments represented 57 percent of the total Alaska exports to the country. Minerals, at $446 mil lion, are the second largest category, accounting for 33 percent, followed by forest products at 7 percent and fish meal at just over 2 percent.

While a significant percentage of the seafood exported to China is processed there and then re-exported to other markets, a growing amount is being consumed in the country as...