Minnesota Finishing Suppliers See Boom In Exports

Finishing equipment suppliers in Minnesota are seeing a surge in export sales, especially for Almco, which saw a 113 percent jump in export sales in the last two years. Television station KAAL in Minnesota aired a segment on Almco recently that highlighted the increase in sales. Read more to check out the video.

Finishing equipment suppliers in Minnesota are seeing a surge in export sales, especially for Almco, which saw a 113 percent jump in export sales in the last two years.

Television station KAAL in Minnesota aired a segment on Almco recently that highlighted the increase in sales. Click HERE to see the report.

"Our export business actually from 2009 through 2011 was up 113 percent,” says Almco Vice President Larry Beavens. “Our total business was up over 40 percent, but 73 percent growth in just the export business itself."

Based in Albert Lea, Minnesota, Almco and their equipment is gaining high demand overseas.

"When our economy was down here, we were very fortunate to have a lot of export shipments," says Bill Sherman, Almco's Technical Sales Administrator.

KAAL says Almco is not the only ones with good fortune this year. Minnesota’s exports reached more than $20 billion in 2011. In the third quarter alone, manufacturing exports were up by roughly 5 percent.

"We're doing well with exporting right now,” says Beavens. “A lot of our business comes out of Canada, but we have also done a lot of business in China, India, Turkey, Japan, Mexico, Israel, but primarily our biggest business right now is in Canada."

"Everything is completely done at this factory," said Sherman. "We employ a lot of people, then rather than having things done in China or whatever, we're very fortunate to have it done here.”

According to the International Trade Administration, Canada was the Minnesota largest market at almost $6 billion in 2011. They're followed by China, Japan, Mexico, and Germany.