Alaska's international exports increased $625 million from 2013 to 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, reaching a total of about $5.2 billion. That's only about $100 million less than the state export record set in 2011.
Seafood exports, mainly to Asia, accounted for the biggest piece of the 2014 export pie at $2.265 billion, according to the Alaska Office of International Trade.
China, which overtook Japan as the top international importer of Alaska goods in 2009, led the way with $1.46 billion in Alaska imports, an increase of 18.3 percent over 2013.
China's taste for Alaska goods is rapidly growing. But with cheap labor costs, China is also a major processor of Alaska seafood. Much of that product is then sold to Japan, South Korea and European countries, but the secondary export market for Alaska goods is difficult to track.
China and Japan, along with South Korea, Canada and Germany, are the top five importers of Alaska goods. But the numbers can be misleading.
Take the United Kingdom, 16th on the list. State officials claim it should actually rank about eighth.
"In reality, our exports to them in seafood is around $120 million but it shows up as $40 million," said Patricia Eckert, associate director for international trade in the Office of the Governor. "And that's because the U.K. is the world's largest salmon market, and the salmon will go through Washington state and Canada to go to the U.K., so it doesn't get counted as an Alaska export."
Other blips in the numbers include a massive, 3,303 percent jump in exports to South Africa in 2014. But Eckert said that was due to a single sale: a $100 million jack-up oil drilling rig, the Endeavour, that used to ply the waters of Cook Inlet. That rig was shipped to South Africa in November.
Mineral ores were Alaska's second-biggest international export at $1.75 billion. The state said climbing prices of copper ores and especially zinc, the state's top exported metal, helped drive that number. Precious metal exports (including gold and silver) were only about a 10th of Alaska's zinc exports.
"We don't have smelters in Alaska, so ore is being exported to countries with big smelting industries," Eckert said.
Oil and gas, the state's next-biggest international export, was led by liquefied natural gas ($233 million) sales to Japan, refined petroleum ($217 million) and crude oil sold to South Korea ($85 million).
In contrast to Alaska international exports, where seafood is the largest sector, energy is by far the state's biggest industry domestically, with oil and gas taxes and royalties accounting for most of the state's revenue.
Alaska's estimated gross domestic product (the value of all goods and services sold) was about $50 billion in 2014, and international exports accounted for more than 10 percent of the state's economic output. State officials said they are optimistic international exports will continue an upward trend.
"If you look at the history from 1996 (when the U.S. Department of Commerce changed its data collection methods), you see we reflect some of the ups and downs of world economy. But overall, if you look at the broader picture, we continue to grow," Eckert said.