Despite the gloom-and-doom moaning about the economy, Iowa bucked all trends by posting an increase in its exports in 2001, something few states were able to accomplish. The numbers have just been released in a report from the Iowa Department of Economic Development. Iowa’s exports INCREASED about four-percent in 2001 while the national average DECREASED six-point-three percent. More than half of all states saw no increase or a drop in exports last year. Kathy Hill, manager of the Iowa Department of Economic Development’s International Marketing group, says Iowa was strongest in its manufactured goods, especially machinery, which it sold in many nations, including emerging markets like China. Iowa ranks fifth in U-S exports of machinery, which is Iowa’s largest export industry. Iowa’s also excelling in value-added agricultural exports, not just shipping commodities but in shipping finished products with grains and meats. Hill says it’s difficult to predict how Iowa’s export levels will fluctuate in 2002, though she admits it’s hard to be optimistic. She says several overseas factors may effect Iowa’s exports in the year ahead, including the success of Japan’s economic recovery efforts, and the strength of the new “Euro” and the emerging European Union. The top importer of Iowa products is Canada, with one-and-a-half BILLION dollars in sales last year, followed by Japan, Mexico, Germany and the United Kingdom.