Number of U.S. exporters down in 2017

Census Bureau identifies 284,168 companies responsible for exporting $1.292 trillion in goods.    The U.S. Census Bureau on Friday released its Preliminary Profile of U.S. Exporting Companies for 2017, which compiles preliminary data on the totality of U.S. exporting companies last year, using characteristics from the 2016 Business Register.
   According to the preliminary data, there were 3,146 fewer identified U.S. exporters in 2017, compared with the 287,314 identified U.S. exporters in 2016.
   The 284,168 U.S. exporters identified in 2017 accounted for $1.292 trillion total exports of goods, compared with U.S. exporters accounting for $1.29 trillion total exports of goods in 2016.
   The profile defines identified U.S. exporters as companies that can be linked to export transactions, and export value is associated with the portion of U.S. total exports that can be matched to specific companies.
   Of identified 2017 exporters, 97.5 percent  were small and medium-sized exporters (SMEs), similar to 2016 statistics.
SMEs accounted for $461.3 billion in total U.S. exports of goods in 2017, $32.1 billion more than they accounted for in 2016.
   About 33 percent of 2017 SMEs were part of the wholesale sector, while about 25 percent of them were part of the manufacturing sector. About 42 percent of the companies were part of “other/identified” sectors.
   For its report, Census compared 2017 export data to the 2016 Business Register.
   More comprehensive information on U.S. exporting companies and export values for 2017 will be available with the publication of Census’ Final Profile of U.S. Importing and Exporting Companies in April 2019, Census said.