A Brookings Institution report ranks Wichita among the top metropolitan areas showing an increase in exports in 2015. The results are part of an effort made by the Kansas Global Trade Services in Wichita.
Wichita’s performance was third best, at 6.8 percent, just behind Bakersfield, Calif., and New Orleans. Twenty-five cents of every dollar of the Wichita economy is from a customer outside of the U.S.
Kansas Global’s Holli Schletzbaum says the nonprofit company meets with people across the state to help them intentionally sell to other countries.
"We help with market research to get them into the right country to help them sell their product," Schletzbaum says. "We’ll help them with compliance. We also do translations, so if their website is not in the right language to the company they are trying to sell to, we’ll help them get it translated. "
The leading categories of exports in the Wichita region include transportation equipment at $3.5 billion. Schletzbaum says Wichita exports a significant range of items including airplane parts, flour, even hair ribbons.
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Carla Eckels is assistant news director and the host of Soulsations. Follow her on Twitter @Eckels.
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