Smaller Companies Grab Bigger Share of Surging U.S. Exports

Smaller companies are grabbing a bigger share of U.S. exports, making up for some of the jobs lost as multinational firms move operations overseas.

American businesses without international subsidiaries accounted for 46 percent of sales abroad in 2005, up from 38 percent in 1999, according to a Commerce Department analysis published last week. The trend is likely to continue, helping cushion the economy from the worst housing recession in 16 years, economists said.

``We are at a six-month backlog now and we have been for over a year,'' said Leon Trammel, chairman of Tramco Inc., a Wichita, Kansas-based maker of conveyor belts. ``Our business is just great.''

After exporting his first belt to the Netherlands on an impulse 35 years ago, foreign sales will be almost half of his firm's projected $40 million in sales this year, Trammel said.

Faster global communications and fewer trade barriers have enabled businesses like Tramco, with few or no factories overseas, to take advantage of the strongest global economy in almost three decades. Private companies with less than 500 employees account for all the jobs created since 2005, according to figures from ADP Employer Services.

``It's a very important element driving the economy,'' said John Murphy, vice president of Latin American Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview. ``For small companies, exporting is the only way for them to tap into foreign markets.''
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