Mexico Helping Arizona's Local Economy

Via TrivalleyCentral.com:

According to recent data from the International Trade Administration, the strong Mexican economy is helping Arizona keep pace with other states in export sales this year.

According to reports, trade in exports to Mexico have accounted for more than a third of the state’s international trade in the first half of 2011, when Arizona’s total export sales jumped $1.2 billion, to $8.9 billion. It was the highest year-to-date increase in at least five years.

The bump in exports follows 10 years in which Arizona had the fourth-slowest growth rate among states in international trade, according to the administration’s data.

Mexico’s quick recovery from the global recession, a strong peso and rising commodities prices are key factors in its increasing share of Arizona’s exports, said Lora Mwaniki Lyman, a border economy expert with the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management.

Exports to Mexico rose about a half-billion dollars to $2.9 billion in the first six months of the year. That total, not adjusted for inflation, is higher than the same period in 2008, which is Arizona’s best year in international sales. In the first half of that year, Arizona exported $2.8 billion in goods to Mexico and $10.8 billion overall.