U.S. Exports Hit Nearly $180 Billion in October

(Newsroom America) -- The United States exported $179.2 billion in goods and services in October 2011, according to data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Commerce Department.

Exports of goods and services over the past twelve months totaled $2.072 trillion, which is 31.57 percent above the level of exports in 2009. Over the last twelve months, exports have been growing at an annualized rate of 16.1 percent when compared to 2009, a pace greater than the 15 percent required to double exports by 2015.

Over the past twelve months, the major export markets with the largest annualized increase in U.S. goods purchased were Turkey (47.3 percent), Panama (40.2 percent), Honduras (37.5 percent), Argentina (34.4 percent), Hong Kong (32.0 percent), Peru (31.1 percent), Thailand (30.4 percent), Brazil (29.7 percent), South Africa (29.4 percent), and Chile (28.7 percent).

Also contributing to U.S. export growth, Ex-Im Bank approved $32.7 billion in total authorizations in FY 2011, a record for the Bank. This total includes more than $6 billion directly supporting small-business export sales.

The Bank's total authorizations are supporting an estimated $41 billion in U.S. export sales and approximately 290,000 American jobs.