California's export trade continues to hum along.
The value of California merchandise exports in May totaled $13.2 billion, up more than 10 percent from May last year, according to an analysis of today's U.S. Commerce Department trade figures by Beacon Economics, a consultant with offices in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Nationally, the U.S. trade deficit surged in May to its highest level in more than two and a half years, pushed by a spike in oil imports.
For California, May marked the 19th consecutive month of year-over-year growth.
California imports in May totaled $28.72 billion, up more than 7 percent from about $26.8 billion in May last year. Some goods entering California go to other states, so exports are considered a more accurate measure.
The U.S. trade deficit increased 15.1 percent to $50.2 billion from April to May, the largest imbalance since October 2008.
The Commerce Department said U.S. exports of goods and services totaled $174.9 billion in May, down 0.5 percent from April.
U.S. imports totaled $225.1 billion, up 2.6 percent from April. Petroleum imports rose 10.3 percent to $39.8 billion in May, a month when the average price of crude was nearly $109 a barrel.
See more details in Wednesday's edition of The Sacramento Bee.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
Call The Bee's Mark Glover, (916) 321-1184.
• Read more articles by Mark Glover
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.