There’s a new effort to pump up the state’s exports, at a time when exports of manufactured goods in Wisconsin are down.
Mike Klonsinski with the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership says WMEP is launching a new, cooperative effort with the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, to have more Wisconsin manufacturers exporting their products. “It’s critical for manufacturing these days, because the biggest source of success and wealth creation back to the state, comes when we ship our goods to Mexico, Canada, overseas,” says Klonsinski.
And with a recent WMEP survey finding hundreds of state manufacturers giving themselves a poor ranking on exporting, Klonsinski says there’s a real sense of urgency. “These isn’t something that we can wait . . . five to ten years,” he says. “If we don’t step in and take advantage of those markets, there are plenty of other countries in plenty of other state and countries that are going to do it instead of us.”
The U.S. Census Bureau said Wisconsin’s exports dropped 21.5 percent in the first six months of the year. That’s a short term trend, but Klonsinski wants a rebound of the state’s exports to go beyond where they were six months ago. “Our goal is to have more Wisconsin manufacturers exporting more Wisconsin good than we ever have before.”
AUDIO: Bob Hague reports (:65 MP3)
