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Colorado Exports Up, So Is DIA Passenger Traffic

Daniel Hoherd
/
Flickr - Creative Commons

Colorado is a growing national contender when it comes to exporting local products overseas, seeing a $400 million increase in manufactured, agricultural and mineral product exports since 2012. We can officially thank Canada for being our biggest international customer.

Statistics from the World Institute for Strategic and Economic Research show that the $2 billion Canada spent on Colorado goods in 2013 ranged from petroleum and motor parts to fresh and frozen meat.

Our neighbors to the north are not the only country to invest heavily in Colorado goods. Mexico, Japan and China all spent hundreds of millions of dollars for Colorado made commodities. All four countries increased investments in Colorado since 2012, with China devoting an additional 14 percent to Colorado’s economy, making it the state's third largest international customer.

Part of this success can be placed on the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, which works with businesses to target potential customers overseas.

"Increasing the export of Colorado's products and services to global markets has helped revive Colorado's economy, spurred future economic growth and supported jobs in the state," said Ken Lund, executive director of OEDIT.

It doesn’t hurt that this past December and January mark the largest amount of passenger traffic in the airport’s history, with new direct flights to Japan, Canada and Jamaica recently added. With Denver becoming a hub for international travel, trade between Colorado and overseas countries is likely to continue to grow even more for 2014.

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