Quarterly trade report: year-end figures filed.

• Position: Statistics for Alaskan exports in 1990, including seafood exports and salmon importing around the world

QUARTERLY TRADE REPORT

Year-End Figures Filed

The total value of Alaska's exports in 1990, $3.59 billion, surpasses the 1989 figure of $2.56 billion by 40 percent. Except for timber, which dropped almost 3 percent in value because of softening markets, all sectors posted gains.

Increasing the most in value during 1990 were mineral exports, which jumped 339 percent. Ore exports from the Red Dog Mine near Kotzebue contributed significantly to that growth. Another spectacular gain was recorded in the "other" category, which climbed 152 percent. This sector includes air cargo brought to Anchorage by international freight companies that use the city as a hub in their international distribution systems. Because of trade regulations, Anchorage is considered the port of export for products from the continental United States that are shipped out of the country from Anchorage.

Alaska's 1990 seafood exports were up 32 percent over those of 1989. Japan accounts for the lion's share of the state's overseas seafood sales, 85 percent of 1990 exports. That share has fallen since reaching 95 percent in 1988, largely because of Alaska's increasing groundfish sales to other nations, but Japan continues to consume almost all of Alaska's salmon exports.

Europe's share of Alaska's seafood exports, meanwhile, has increased from 1 percent in 1988 to almost 7 percent in 1990. The value of Alaska's exports to Europe leaped 458 percent last year, from $17.5 million in 1989 to $97.7 million in 1990, primarily because of increased groundfish sales.

Further analysis of Alaska's seafood exports and worldwide seafood consumption follows on subsequent pages.

Mixed Bag. Bill Aberle, coordinator for the Information Services Program operated by the Alaska Center for International Business, observes that seafood consumption around the world is changing. He says, "There's good news and bad news. The good news is that people around the world are eating more salmon. The bad news is it's not our fish."

In particular, Aberle notes Alaska is missing opportunities offered by a major market in its own backyard: a boom in fresh salmon consumption in U.S. markets that has boosted exports from Canada and Norway. The United States imported 41,365 metric tons of fresh salmon in 1990, up 11 percent from 37,270 metric tons in 1989.

Throughout the past decade, U.S. fresh salmon imports have grown; in 1981, only 910 metric tons were imported. Similarly, total U.S. salmon imports leaped from...