Market Analysis By AmCham s Research Department Spotlight on the U.S. Market Kentucky With a strong manufacturing base, Kentucky has achieved sustained economic growth in excess of 5% and offers many export opportunities for Chilean companies. Moreover, the state is firmly committed to expanding its business relationships in South America. Located in the central United States, Kentucky shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee. Two major rivers - the Ohio and the Mississippi - define its northern and western boundaries. It ranks 36 th in land area among the 50 states, with 102,896 km 2, slightly smaller than Chile s Region XI. Kentucky became the 15 th state of the Union in 1792. Its official name is the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Its most prominent resident was Abraham Lincoln, the 16 th President of the United States, born in Hardin County in 1809. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Kentucky s population in 2003 reached 4,117,827, representing 1.4% of the total U.S. population. Approximately 2% of Kentucky s population is Hispanic (68,838 residents in 2002), compared to a national figure of over 13%. The state s capital, Frankfort, has a population of approximately 28,000. Kentucky Cities Population 2002 Lexington-Fayette 263,618 Louisville 251,399 Owensboro 54,176 Bowling Green 50,226 In the east of Kentucky lies its Eastern Coal Field, where the principal economic activity is coal mining. The Bluegrass region, in the center and north of the state, is the most urban, with approximately half of the state s population, including the cities of Louisville, Lexington, and Frankfort. To the west lies the Western Coal Field, and in the far west, the Jackson Purchase region, bordered by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Throughout the state, there are many natural areas, including six national parks and just under 100 state parks and nature reserves. Kentucky s current governor is Ernie Fletcher, a Republican. In the U.S. Senate, Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell, both Republicans, represent the state. Kentucky has six delegates to the U.S. House of Representatives, currently held by two Democrats and four Republicans.
Economic Profile Kentucky s economy is diversified, with a strong manufacturing and services base. From 1992 to 2001, it grew at an average annual rate of 5.4%. Its Gross State Product (GSP) in 2001 was US$120.3 billion, up 2.6% from the previous year, and represented 1.1% of U.S. GDP. In 2003, per capita income reached US$ 26,252. Kentucky s Main Industries, 2001 US$ mill. % of GSP Manufacturing 30,297 25.2 Services 20,081 16.7 Finance, insurance & real estate 14,152 11.8 Retail trade 11,369 9.5 Wholesale trade 7,461 6.2 Construction 5,635 4.7 Transportation 5,415 4.5 Electric, gas, and sanitary services 2,551 2.1 Mining 2,235 1.9 Communication 1,939 1.6 Farming 1,775 1.5 Government 16,663 13.9 Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Manufacturing. Manufacturing is the most important sector of Kentucky s economy, at 25.2% of GSP and US$30.3 billion in 2001. Manufacturing is significantly more important to Kentucky s economy than to the nation as a whole, as this sector represented only 14% of U.S. GDP in 2001. Kentucky s most important industry is the motor vehicle industry. In 2001, automobile manufacturing contributed US$10.3 billion to the state s economy, representing 34% of manufacturing output and 8.5% of total GSP. Ford Motor, General Motors, and Toyota are the largest automotive companies with plants in the state, employing a total of over 20,000 workers. The food industry is Kentucky s next largest manufacturing sector and generated US$2.7 billion in 2001, equivalent to 9.0% of its manufacturing sector. It provided over 23,000 jobs in 2003, and the company Yum! Brands - which owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, A&W, and Long John Silver s - is headquartered in the state. General Electric also has significant activities in Kentucky, employing over 8,000 people in the manufacture of jet engines and appliances. In terms of the printing and publishing industry, Lexmark has its headquarters in Kentucky and employs 3,500 people.
Services. Services follow the manufacturing sector in contribution to Kentucky GSP, adding US$20.1 billion to its economy in 2001. The services sector is the state s largest employer, with 556,000 jobs in 2002. In terms of individual industries, health services are the state s second largest industry, at US$8.1 billion and 40.2% of the services sector in 2001. Business services are also an important part of Kentucky s economy, at US$3.6 billion. Finance, insurance and real estate. Finance, insurance and real estate is Kentucky s third largest sector. Real estate is its third largest industry overall, at US$7.5 billion and 6.2% of GSP in 2001. Banks represented US$3.4 billion (2.8% of GSP), and insurance carriers, US$1.2 billion (1.0% of GSP). Among Kentucky s largest financial companies are Fidelity Investments, employing 2,750 workers, and Citicorp, employing 2,000 workers. Transportation. Kentucky has a key location in terms of access to the Eastern Seaboard, South, and Midwest by highway and air. New York City and Philadelphia lie within 600 miles of its center, and Atlanta, Chicago, and St. Louis are each about 300 miles away. Five interstate highways pass through the state. The Louisville airport ranked as the 12 th largest in the world by total cargo in 2002 and is home to the UPS Worldport. ASTAR Air Cargo, which serves DHL and other customers handling substantial amounts of cargo, operates from the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky airport, which is also a Delta Air Lines hub. UPS and Delta are also among the largest employers in the state, with 10,400 and 5,800 workers, respectively. Mining. Although it represents a small part of the state s economy (1.5%), coal mining is a key component of Eastern Kentucky s economic activity and has an enormous indirect impact on the state as a whole, as the abundant coal supply results in the lowest energy costs in the United States. Coal accounts for 81% of mining activity in Kentucky. Trade Profile In 2003, Kentucky s exports reached US$10.7 billion. Although this represented only 1.5% of total U.S. exports, the state had the 12 th highest per capita exports in the nation, at US$2,607. Exports generate approximately 50,000 direct jobs in Kentucky. Kentucky s exports grew by 17.2% in 2002, as they recovered from a drop in 2001, and by 1.6% in 2003. Their 2003 level was 12.1% higher than in 2000. Canada is the state s principal export destination, representing approximately one third of its shipments. Kentucky s Main Export Markets (US$ mill.) 2000 % of Total 2001 2002 2003(2003) Total Exports 9,612 9,048 10,607 10,734 Canada 3,465 2,953 3,652 3,424 31.9 Japan 919 838 1,003 983 9.2 United Kingdom 784 802 824 850 7.9 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Division
According to Kentucky s Cabinet for Economic Development, almost 94% of the state s exports are manufactured products. Agricultural goods account for 4%, and minerals, less than 1%. Along the same lines as Kentucky s principal manufacturing industries, its main export industries are vehicles and transportation equipment, at US$3.7 billion exported in 2003 (34.5% of the total); chemical products, at US$2.0 billion, and machinery, at US$917 million. Kentucky s exports of thoroughbred breeding animal are a product of its large horseracing industry. Kentucky is home to one of the three most important, and probably the best known, horse race in the U.S., the Kentucky Derby. Trade with Chile Kentucky exported US$27.5 million worth of goods to Chile in 2003. By far, its main exports were computers and electronic products, at US$12.6 million. Kentucky s Main Exports to Chile, 2003 US$ mill. % of total Computers and electronic 12.6 45.8 products Machinery, excluding 5.5 20.0 electrical Chemicals 4.8 17.3 Nonmetallic mineral products 1.9 6.8 Source: Massachusetts Institute of Social and Economic Research In terms of new opportunities for trade between Chile and Kentucky, the state demands many manufacturing inputs. In addition, the Chile-U.S. Free Trade Agreement has given Chilean companies access to the state of Kentucky s government purchases. Kentucky s South America Trade Office, located in Santiago, can further aid companies looking for bilateral business opportunities. Investment Opportunities Accumulated foreign direct investment (FDI) in Kentucky reached US$22.9 billion in 2001. The top foreign investors were companies from Japan (39.1%), the United Kingdom (21.6%), Germany (9.9%), and Canada (9.0%). Accumulated Latin American investments amounted to US$609 million in 2001. This represented just 2.7% of the total, but created the most jobs per dollar invested of all FDI in Kentucky by world region. Kentucky offers numerous benefits to companies locating in the state. These include a low-tax environment, worker training programs, and a wide availability of industrial and commercial sites. Kentucky has the fourth lowest overall cost of doing business in the United States, according to Economy.com, and its workforce is 5.1% more productive than
the U.S. average, according to calculations based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, making it the 13 th most productive state in terms of labor. In Site Selection magazine, Kentucky tied for 12 th place in the 2003 ranking of state business climates and also ranked favorably in terms of states with the most new and expanded facilities (10 th ) and the number of towns in the top 100 towns in which to locate (3 rd ). In addition, the state s market is a manageable size as a starting point in the United States. Useful Websites Kentucky Government http://www.kentucky.gov Kentucky Cabinet for Economic http://www.thinkkentucky.com/ Development Kentucky Chamber of Commerce http://www.kychamber.com/ Kentucky South America Trade Office http://www.kentuckysouthamerica.com/ Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky http://www.cvgairport.com International Airport Louisville International Airport http://www.louintlairport.com/ Kentucky Tourism Council http://www.tourky.com/ KY Government Procurement Guide to KY Government Contracting http://www.thinkkentucky.com/kyedc/pdfs/guide.pdf How to do Business with the http://mars.ky.gov/howto.doc Commonwealth of Kentucky Kentucky e-procurement https://eprocurement.ky.gov/ Letter to AmCham Expanding Business with Chile By Ernie Fletcher Governor of Kentucky I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to address the AmCham membership during my visit to Chile in August. We enjoyed a full week of Chilean hospitality and identified several opportunities for business ties between Chile and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. We look forward to continuing to build the relationship between Kentucky and Chile, and appreciate that AmCham is actively involved in this process. Kentucky, like Chile, is committed to competing successfully in the global economy. Our Commonwealth is neither the largest nor the best known of the fifty United States, but we have achieved much in a very competitive world marketplace. Kentucky offers a location central to the population and business centers in the eastern United States, and the presence of two airfreight hubs to move products quickly and efficiently. The UPS Worldport, which moves 300,000 packages per hour, makes the Louisville International Airport the 12 th busiest cargo airport in the world.
As a home for business investment, Kentucky offers the additional advantages of the lowest electric energy rates in the U.S., the fourth lowest cost of doing business, and workforce productivity well above the national average. Kentucky enjoys several recent top ten rankings among states in the announcement of new business investment and job creation. Our Commonwealth has been recognized for both urban areas and smaller communities that are well prepared to host new and expanding businesses. With a population of 4 million and more than US$10.7 billion in total exports in 2003, Kentucky ranked 12 th in exports per capita, with more than US$2,600 per person in export value. Exported products range from traditional Kentucky industries such as thoroughbred horses and bourbon whiskey to computer equipment and motor vehicles. Kentucky is the home of almost US$23 billion in capital investment by international business, with significant shares from both Japan and Western Europe. This foreign investment has helped to elevate Kentucky to fourth among states in the production of passenger cars and trucks. Kentucky is committed to expanding its business relationships in Chile and across South America. In July 2001, the Kentucky South America Trade Office (KSATO) was opened in Santiago as Kentucky s entry portal to South America. In addition to the full-time staff in that office, headed by Senen Cornejo, KSATO has representatives working in Argentina and Brazil. My visit to Chile as Governor of Kentucky allowed me to further the work of KSATO by communicating directly with government and business leaders about business in Kentucky. We are looking to create opportunities that will be mutually beneficial to both sides and are open to continued dialogue. We also look forward to the opportunity to host in Kentucky a visit by business leaders from Chile, so that we can continue to build these new relationships.