From soup to nuts, local exports diverse

Northern Colorado exports mirror the state’s top exports, among them electronic parts, medical instruments and agricultural products.

The state as a whole enjoyed a record year for exports in 2004, according to the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Colorado companies shipped $6.7 billion in manufactured, agricultural and mineral products to international markets last year. That number exceeds a previous record of $6.6 billion set in 2000.

Sales of computer-related and electronic products topped state exports in 2004, accounting for $3.9 billion or more than 59 percent of total export sales.

Northern Colorado contributed heavily to this market with a tech roster that includes industry giants such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Agilent Technologies located in the region. They’re joined by a list of firms that includes Advanced Digital Imaging, Remote Switch Systems, Cerience Corp., CoCreate Software, Hasp, Honeywell and Red Hen Systems.

Northern Colorado companies were well represented in the state’s other three top export areas.

Machinery manufacturers accounted for $552 million or 8.3 percent of total export sales. Fort Collins-based Walker Manufacturing builds and exports lawnmowers and attachments for commercial contractors. Loveland-based Clinebell Equipment Co. designs and manufactures ice-making equipment for commercial use. Also in Loveland, Super Vacuum Manufacturing produces, fans, truck bodies, vehicle emergency lighting systems and foundry equipment. Goldco Industries makes and exports palletizing and conveying equipment.

Processed foods accounted for $460 million or 6.9 percent of total 2004 export sales. Northern Colorado is home to meatpacking giant Swift & Co, which produces processed beef, pork and lamb. Rocky Mountain Milling in Platteville produces flour. Stehman’s Wheat Products in Kersey produces pre-packaged flour products including pancake, biscuit and muffin mixes.

Chemical manufacturers made up 6.4 percent of the state’s total for 2004 with exports valued at $428 million. Praxaire-Linde Western Division in Loveland produces liquid oxygen.

Cathy Schulte, senior vice president for the Greeley/Weld Economic Development Partnership, said that Weld County is home to approximately 300 businesses that create products for export. Of those, about one-third export goods internationally.

Schulte said key industry clusters in Weld include: machinery, tools and equipment manufacturers, packaging products, printing and publishing, chemical manufacturing, business services, electronics manufacturing, metal products manufacturing, plastics and rubber manufacturing, oil and gas exploration and food processing.

Margie Joy, director of investment development for the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp., noted that NCEDC surveys show that Larimer County exports include: lawnmowers, software, beer, agricultural products, cheese, semiconductors and microelectronics, millworks and cabinetry, pharmaceuticals and biomedical instruments, water-testing devices, durable and consumer goods.

Ag still suffering

Statewide, agricultural exports didn’t reflect the overall growth in export value. While meat exports remained 10th on a list of the top 25 Colorado export products, beef’s share of statewide exports declined by more than 56 percent, 2004 over 2003. This was due to the halting of U.S. exports of beef and beef products after the December 2003 discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in a cow in Washington state.

Colorado’s continued drought conditions and rising fuel costs are slowing other agricultural exports as well.

Bud Bliss, of Greeley-based Bliss Produce Company, said 2005 may be the last year his company will produce and export potatoes. After 56 years of farming in Greeley, Bliss said he is trying to decide whether to plant a 2006 potato crop.

In 2005, the company harvested approximately 600 acres of potatoes, shipping them to both coasts and states in between.

The number of acres Bliss planted has steadily declined. “We grew all the way from 1,000 acres down. We haven’t grown that many in the last few years on account of the water supply.”

In a market where “the cost of everything is going up except for the price of potatoes”, farming is not economically feasible, Bliss said. “It’s tough.”

Bliss, who once grew onions, cabbage and carrots as well, said his business’ focus is shifting to climate-controlled storage of other producers’ onion harvests. Bliss will take another direction as well: real estate development.

“Right now we’re busy promoting a business and industrial park in Greeley on Eighth Street near the airport,” he said.

Tough economic times for farmers reflect another shift in the agricultural export arena as Colorado farmers seek out value-added products such as peeled, packaged baby carrots and dry-bean soup mixes.

Northern Colorado agricultural exports include everything from soup to nuts, or rather Nutballz, gluten-free cookies produced in Boulder. The region exports honey, wine, flour and baking mixes, soup mixes, buffalo sausages, emu and ostrich food products, hydroponically grown tomatoes and cheese along with more traditional agricultural products such as animal feeds, dry beans and popcorn, dairy products, eggs, fresh produce and seeds.

Photographic film, X-ray plates and flat film ranked 17 and 18 on the list of Colorado’s top 25 exports. Exports of these products in 2004 were valued at more than $100 million. Photographic film’s share of the whole rose by more than 22 percent in 2004 while X-ray plates and flat film exports declined, as a share of Colorado’s total, by 19 percent.

Windsor-based Kodak Colorado produces and exports sensitized photographic and medical products, lithographic and thermal plates for printing. The company employs more than 2,000 at its Windsor plant.

The largest concentration of international exports from Colorado in 2004 went to Canada. Our northern neighbor ranked No. 1 among Colorado’s top 10 trading partners. Number two was Mexico, followed by China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Germany, United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands.

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