The market is rich and the reach is far.

• Author: Wolf, Greg
• Position: Cover Story

As Alaska strives to expand and diversify its economy, overseas exports are playing an increasingly important role in achieving this goal. The export of natural resource commodities, value-added products and technical services are serving to establish an economic base in Alaska that is better able to weather the peaks and valleys of fluctuating petroleum prices.

In 2003, Alaska's total worldwide exports climbed to $2.7 billion, up nearly 9 percent from the previous year. During the first seven months of this year, exports have increased nearly 20 percent and should finish the year at more than $2.8 billion, the highest level in almost a decade. At this level, exports account for approximately 10 percent of Alaska's gross state product, the sum of all goods and services produced within a state during a given year.

It is important to note that this total does not include the export of professional and technical services, such as engineering, oil and gas field support, architecture, construction and environmental services. Reporting an accurate dollar amount for these exports, unfortunately, is not possible. Unlike the export of commodities or products, where required documentation enables a wide variety of statistics to be recorded and reported, such documentation is not mandatory when companies enter into contracts or other agreements to provide services to customers overseas. Thus, we often rely on anecdotal evidence, such as a press release, mention in an annual report or conversation with a company executive, to measure the extent of service sector exports.

At World Trade Center Alaska, through our work with local companies actively engaged in selling their services overseas, we know that these exports are sizable today and growing larger each year. We estimate that current service sector exports range between $500 million and $750 million on an annual basis, but this would only be an estimate and, in all likelihood, understates the actual amount. If you combine commodity exports and service sector exports, Alaska's "total" overseas exports are approaching $4 billion annually.

HIGH-PAYING JOBS

The state's export activities not only bring several billion dollars of "new money" into the local economy, they also create and support thousands of Alaska jobs. These jobs are important because they also tend to be relatively high paying. A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce indicated that jobs associated with export activities...