Nevada ranked second only to Delaware in export growth over the first half of 2006, notably on the strength of gold, gaming equipment and medical instruments, the state reported on Monday.
Nevada has been among the top three states in export growth for the past three years, topped by a 50.3 percent rise in the January-June period from 2005, according to the state Commission on Economic Development.
Al DiStefano, director of global trade and investment, said soaring gold prices -- $623.90 per ounce on Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- helped to boost the total dollar value of exports.
But even taking gold out the equation, he said, export value still rose 39 percent.
"So it's not all in one product. We're up in virtually every category," DiStefano said. "Even without gold, we'd be in the top five states."
Two-thirds of all Nevada's exports originate within a 90-minute drive of the Reno-Sparks area, DiStefano said, reflecting a quiet but robust industry operating away from the glitz of the gaming/tourism industry.
"The general public doesn't really have a feel for what goes on here," he said, citing such growth indicators as:
--Exports to the Asian nation of Macau have jumped from $793,000 in 2003 to $11 million in the first six months of 2006, pegged largely to the development of casinos there.
--Total Nevada export dollars rose from $1.1 billion in 2000, 47th in the nation, to $3.94 billion, 37th among the states, last year, accounting for an estimated 53,000 jobs.
--Nearly $2.8 billion in total exports in the first half of 2006, more than Delaware's $1.84 billion pegged largely to that state's chemical industry.
"We clearly have created a great growth trend for exports," said Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, chair of the state Commission on Economic Development.