enterprise development quarterly report to the public the...
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Border Business Indicators
The Border Business Indicators (BBI), a Texas Center publication from 1990 to the present, has been in existence in a variety of formats since the 1980s. In its present configuration, the BBI covers twenty-two economic indicators for cities along the Rio Grande from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas.
On March 2003, the Border Business Indicators was reformatted to pro-vide a more concise and “fast read” of the economic indicators for those cities on the Texas-Mexico border. In this current iteration, U.S.-Mexico trade information was incorporated as part of the monthly offer-ings in the BBI. Along with the inclusion of trade data, the fifteen indicators in the BBI publication were synchronized to the searchable data sets available on the on the Texas Center web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Vision Economic Outlook Report
The Texas Center’s ongoing work with business and community organizations may result in a variety of collaborative publications and materials. One such publication is the Vision Economic Outlook Report.
The Vision Economic Outlook Report is prepared in cooperation with the Laredo Chamber of Commerce and has been in publication since the 1990s. The publication is distributed at the Vision Conferences held annually. The Vision Report provides a view of the City of Laredo’s economic indica-tors, trade data and a timely point of the interest to the community. It is published once a year and is freely available at the Center’s web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Texas Center Web Site
Since it first came on-line in 1998, the Texas Center’s web site has been available to the public and has provided economic and trade data. From 2001, the Center has added searchable data directly from our data sets. In addition, links to other resources were included to guide users to other sites with valuable data and information. Subsequently, specialty publications were added to the site providing insight into the region. As the new decade approaches, the Center staff is working on plans to offer new data searches, filters, and reports. If you have not visited our site recent-ly, do so as we start to upgrade our site http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Texas Center Quarterly Report
First published in the Summer of 2009, the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development Quarterly Report provides current information regard-ing on-going projects, additions or modifications to data sets and personnel changes.
-
Texas A&M International University
Texas Center for Border Economic andEnterprise Development
QUARTERLY REPORTSummer 2010
Border
Busine
ss Ind
icator
s
Texas
A&M
Inte
rnat
ional
Univ
ersi
ty
Texas
Cen
ter f
or Bord
er E
conom
ic a
nd Ente
rpris
e Dev
elopm
ent
Contin
ued o
n Bac
k Pag
e
http://
texa
scen
ter.t
amiu
.edu
Lared
o, Tex
as
Vol. 32
No. 1
2•
Decem
ber 2
008
U.S.-M
exico
200
8 Tra
de Fig
ures
Show Incr
ease
Ove
r 200
7
From th
e ons
et, 2
008
grow
th in
U.S. e
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico h
ad
been
in th
e dou
ble-d
igits
and U
.S. im
ports
grow
th ha
d bee
n in t
he
uppe
r sin
gle-d
igits
(7-9
perce
nt). T
he pe
rcent
age g
rowth
of tra
de
figur
es ha
s bee
n bett
er in
2008
year-
to-d
ate ag
ainst
thos
e of t
he
same p
eriod
in 2
007.
U.S. e
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico—
up to
Octo
ber
2008
—main
taine
d a 13
.3 pe
rcent
avera
ge in
creas
e ove
r the s
ame
perio
d in 2
007.
Simila
rly, U
.S. im
ports
from
Mex
ico co
ntin
ued
posti
ng an
avera
ge of
7.4 p
ercen
t for
the s
ame p
eriod
.
In T
able
1, th
e to
tal d
ollar
valu
e of
all
mercha
ndise
trad
e
($31
5.6 b
illion
) was
up
9.4 p
ercen
t for
Octo
ber 2
008
YTD
again
st th
e sam
e peri
od in
2007
($28
8.6 bi
llion
). Alth
ough
, trad
e
betw
een t
he tr
adin
g part
ners
was up
, the U
.S. s
light
ly re
duce
d its
trade
defi
cit w
ith M
exico
. The
Octo
ber 2
007
YTD defi
cit w
as
$60.2
bill
ion.
U.S. i
mports
from
Mex
ico o
utpa
ced
expo
rts to
Mex
ico in
200
8 res
ultin
g in
a de
ficit
of $
56.8
billi
on. D
ue to
stron
ger e
xpor
ts fig
ures
, the
re was
5.6
perce
nt d
ecrea
se in
the
grow
th of
the d
eficit
in O
ctobe
r 200
8 YTD.
Of the
$31
5.6 b
illio
n do
llar v
alue o
f thi
s merc
hand
ise tr
ade
betw
een t
he tra
ding p
artne
rs in
2008
YTD, $
242.4
billi
on or
76.8
perce
nt w
as p
roce
ssed
at U
.S.-M
exico
bor
der p
orts
of e
ntry
.
Texas
bord
er po
rts of
entry
acco
unted
for $
184.9
billi
on or
76.3
perce
nt of
that
total
trad
e merc
hand
ise va
lue (
See Tab
le 2 a
nd 3)
.
On the
back
page
, Tab
les 5
and 6
delin
eate
the 2
7 por
ts of
entry
on th
e U.S
.-Mex
ico bo
rder,
and t
he do
llar v
alue o
f U.S
. exp
orts
to M
exico
, and
U.S
. impo
rts fr
om M
exico
pass
ing t
hrou
gh th
em
respe
ctive
ly. —
B. Gar
cia
Tab
le 1
U.S.-M
exic
o Trade
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
U.S. E
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico
114.
2
129.
4
13.3
U.S. I
mpo
rts fr
om M
exico
174.
4
186.
2
6.8
Total T
rade
288.
6
315.
6
9.4
Table
2
U.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de Pro
cess
ed b
y U.S
.-Mex
ico B
order
Ports
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
U.S. E
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico
95.8
105.
9
10.5
U.S. I
mpo
rts fr
om M
exico
136.
9
136.
5
-0.3
Total T
rade
232.
7
242.
4
4.2
Table
3
U.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de Pro
cess
ed b
y Tex
as B
order
Ports
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
Texas
Bor
der P
orts
177.
6
184.
9
4.1
Other
U.S
.-Mex
ico B
orde
r Por
ts
55.2
57.5
4.2
Total T
rade
232.
8
242.
4
4.1
Note:
Figure
s may
not m
atch
due t
o rou
nding
.
Table
4
Total U
.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de
Proce
ssed
by U
.S.-M
exic
o Bord
er P
orts
(In U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Port of E
ntry
Total
Total
Change
Browns
ville
11,1
60,7
67,5
08
11,0
43,0
57,2
67
-1.1
Del Rio
2,74
9,95
3,47
1
2,48
6,31
2,25
6
-9.6
Eagle
Pass
10,1
53,8
83,6
82
10,2
89,2
60,4
02
1.3
Lare
do
92,5
26,3
83,7
00
99,3
53,1
83,9
63
7.4
Hidalgo
18,4
51,8
67,2
75
19,0
61,5
85,4
59
3.3
Rio Gra
nde
256,
459,
216
384,
805,
868
50.0
Progr
eso
243,
215,
929
348,
307,
724
43.2
Roma
145,
995,
067
159,
073,
585
9.0
Edinbu
rg A
irpor
t
0
2,75
0
-
El Pas
o
41,4
94,9
90,2
42
41,2
53,3
95,7
69
-0.6
Presid
io
374,
065,
616
483,
490,
744
29.3
Faben
s
4,73
5,24
7
25,7
85,5
05
444.
5
Colum
bus
45,9
84,8
24
41,4
78,1
89
-9.8
Santa
Ter
esa
1,12
5,97
3,82
5
1,04
5,75
9,37
8
-7.1
Santa
Ter
esa A
irpor
t
0
0
-
Andra
de
1,19
0,40
2
1,89
1,95
7
58.9
Calexic
o
29,2
81,0
20
46,6
90,6
36
59.5
San Y
sidro
136,
804,
203
222,
947,
645
63.0
Tecat
e
1,03
6,81
4,23
0
973,
173,
711
-6.1
Otay M
esa S
tatio
n
25,2
80,7
97,8
96
27,1
87,8
70,2
28
7.5
Calexic
o-Eas
t
10,0
50,2
45,6
27
9,80
2,72
3,54
4
-2.5
Dougla
s
1,11
6,89
1,43
0
1,00
3,69
0,74
4
-10.
1
Luke
ville
9,98
3,27
3
8,66
7,03
0
-13.
2
Naco
113,
492,
349
36,8
99,6
51
-67.
5
Nogale
s
15,3
79,4
48,8
29
16,1
40,3
02,1
00
4.9
Sasab
e
570,
333
1,23
1,03
2
115.
8
San L
uis
868,
983,
561
960,
262,
686
10.5
Total T
rade
232,
758,
778,
755
242,
361,
849,
823
4.1
The Stat
e of L
aredo’s
Economy i
n 2008
By
Pablo
Camac
ho-G
utierr
ez, Ass
istan
t Profes
sor
of Eco
nomics
, Divisio
n of
Intern
ation
al
Bankin
g and
Fina
nce S
tudies
, A.R
. San
chez
Jr., S
choo
l of B
usine
ss, T
exas
A&M In
terna
tiona
l
Univers
ity
Vision 20
09
During
the p
ast tw
o cen
turies
, Lare
do h
as be
en at
the c
rossro
ads o
f U.S.-M
exico
trade
and c
ommerc
e. As th
e city
of 22
2,482
inhab
itants
enter
s the n
ew m
illenn
ium, L
aredo
will co
ntinu
e to s
hape
the d
estiny
of th
e reg
ion. T
remen
dous
effort
s are
unde
rway
to
maintai
n a co
mpetiti
ve bu
siness
envir
onmen
t. In t
his re
gard,
exten
sive p
artici
patio
n by
the bu
siness
commun
ity w
ill ha
llmark
how w
ell w
e are
prepa
red to
addre
ss bo
th the
increa
se in
growth
and c
ommerc
e.
The Lare
do C
hambe
r of C
ommerc
e, ov
er 70
0 mem
bers
stron
g, ha
s a vi
sion a
nd go
al
to fos
ter th
e ong
oing b
etterm
ent o
f the c
ommun
ity an
d reg
ion as
well
as en
coura
ge an
d
promote
the m
ainten
ance
of a c
ompe
titive
busin
ess se
ctor. T
here
are th
ree pr
ime f
actors
that b
ode w
ell fo
r the
futur
e of L
aredo
: firs
t is th
e grow
ing ac
tive w
ork fo
rce, s
econd
the co
ntinu
ed di
versi
ficati
on of
all e
cono
mic sec
tors,
and t
hird,
a sign
ifican
t pub
lic-
priva
te inf
rastru
cture
initia
tive t
o enh
ance
all ar
eas of
the r
egion
’s tra
nsport
ation
corri
-
dors
and s
uppo
rt serv
ices.
The 20
09 V
ision
Con
feren
ce int
ends
to foc
us on
the d
ynam
ic co
mmercial
viab
ility o
f
the ci
ty an
d the
trad
itiona
l link
ages
with co
unter
parts
in M
exico
and t
he Sou
th Tex
as
region
. The
mem
bersh
ip of
the Lare
do C
hambe
r of C
ommerc
e loo
ks for
ward to
conti
n-
ued
region
al an
d tra
nsnati
onal
coop
eratio
n. Thu
s, thi
s pub
licati
on is
a sn
apsho
t of
Laredo
’s rec
ent g
rowth
and t
rade a
ctivit
ies.
Formulat
ing a Visi
on
The
Purp
ose o
f the V
ision 2
009 C
onfer
ence
and T
rade M
ission
Econom
ic O
utlook
Rep
ort
Chambe
r of C
ommerc
e
Lared
o, Tex
as Volu
me 11,
Issue
1
May 20
09
Importa
nt Fac
ts:
• The P
ort of L
aredo is
the
larges
t port
of entry
on the
U.S.-Mex
ico bord
er, an
d the
third la
rges
t inlan
d border
port of e
ntry beh
ind Detr
oit,
MI and B
uffalo, N
Y.
• The P
ort of L
aredo han
dles
over 4
0 % of U
.S.-Mex
ico
trade.
• Ove
r 10,0
00 tr
ucks c
ross
at
the Port
of Lare
do daily.
Inside T
his Iss
ue...
The Stat
e of L
aredo’s
Economy
in 2008
.......
........
........
........
...... 1
Intern
ation
al Cros
sings
Pedes
trian .
........
........
........
.... 2
Vehicl
e ......
........
........
........
..... 2
Truck ..
........
........
........
........
.... 3
Rail ...
........
........
........
........
..... 3
Intern
ation
al Air C
argo .
........
. 3
Bridge
Rev
enue
s ......
........
..... 4
Constr
uctio
n Sec
tor
Buildin
g Perm
its ...
........
........
. 5
Intern
ation
al Trad
e and
Commerc
e
Retail S
ales .
........
........
........
.. 5
Sales T
ax R
ebate
s ......
........
.. 5
Reces
sion an
d Peso
Deprec
iation: W
hat a M
ix for
Laredo! ..
........
........
........
........
... 6
Other In
dicato
rs ....
........
........
... 8
U.S.-Mex
ico Trad
e in 20
08 an
d
the Port
of Lare
do ........
........
... 10
Laredo
’s eco
nomy s
howed
sign
s of s
lowing
down i
n 200
6 and
2007
. In 2
008,
the
Laredo
econ
omy s
howed
sign
s of a
reces
sion.
Pedest
rian c
rossin
gs co
ntinu
ed in
2008
its in
creasi
ng pa
ttern
that s
tarted
in 20
05; n
oneth
eless,
retai
l sale
s drop
ped w
ith re
spect
to its
2007
leve
l, an
d sale
s tax
reba
tes re
mained
stag
nant
at its
2007
leve
l. Veh
icle
crossi
ngs c
ontin
ued i
ts de
creasi
ng pa
ttern
that s
tarted
in 19
99. T
ruck c
rossin
g rem
ained
stagn
ant fo
r a th
ird ye
ar in
a row
. Rail
cars
crossi
ngs a
nd ai
r carg
o inc
reased
the r
ate at
which h
ave b
een de
creasi
ng si
nce 2
006.
The va
lue of
build
ing pe
rmits
expe
rienc
ed a
sharp
decre
ase. T
he nu
mber o
f emplo
yed i
ndivi
duals
grew
in 20
08, b
ut so
did po
pula-
tion i
n Lare
do. T
he re
sult w
as an
incre
ase in
the u
nemplo
ymen
t rate.
The to
tal va
lue of
U.S.-Mex
ico tr
ade t
hat c
rossed
Lare
do in
2008
incre
ased w
ith re
spect
to 20
07; h
ow-
ever,
U.S.-M
exico
trade
decre
ased l
ast N
ovem
ber a
nd D
ecembe
r.
Despite
the e
cono
mic ha
rdship
that
Laredo
is fa
cing,
the av
erage
citiz
en in
Laredo
is
bette
r off
today
than
, say
, a de
cade a
go du
e to t
he ex
traord
inary
econo
mic gro
wth tha
t
the ci
ty ha
s enjo
yed i
n its
recen
t past
. Lare
do re
mains a
s a m
ajor p
layer
in int
ernati
onal
trade
, a to
p-thre
e inla
nd bo
rder p
ort in
the U
.S., and
hand
les 40
perce
nt of
U.S.-Mex
ico
trade
.
(Con
tinue
d on p
age 2
)
Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development Quarterly Reports are prepared by the Center’s staff for the purpose of communicating to the public the Center’s mission, activities and services available to the area.
Have any questions about the Center, feel free to contact us at:Texas A&M International University Voice: 956-326-2545Texas Center FAX: 956-326-25445201 University Boulevard E-mail: [email protected], TX 78041 Visit our web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu
Texa
s Cen
ter fo
r Bor
der E
cono
mic an
d Ent
erpr
ise D
evelo
pmen
t
©20
09Tex
asCen
terfo
r Border
Econom
ican
dEnter
prise Dev
elopm
ent
Texas
A&MIn
ternati
onalUniv
ersit
y·
TCBEED/WHTC
221
5201
Univer
sity
Boulevar
d·
Lared
o, TX. 7804
1-190
0 Telephone:
(956)
326-2
546
· Fax:
(956)
326-2
544
Thisis
best view
edin
1024
x768
reso
lutio
n.Com
men
ts/Su
ggestio
ns about th
isweb
site.
Visito
r 1318
94
http
://tex
asce
nter
.tamiu.
edu/
index
.asp [
6/3/
2009
3:38
:59 P
M]
L a s t month the City of Lare-do and Tex-as A&M In-ternational University ( TA M I U ) had the op-portunity to be part of a high p r o f i l e d trade mis-sion with the coun-try of Peru.
This undertaking was spearheaded by Mr. Sergio Vizcarra, President and General Manager of CETICOS-ILO (Centro de Exportación, Transfor-mación, Industria, Comercialización y Servicios-Ilo), which will become one of the founders of the “Interoceanic Highway.” This infrastructure will connect the countries of Brazil and Peru with the main objective of link-ing the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans for both commercial and touristic purposes by the end of 2010.
Furthermore, Laredo’s private sec-tor, City officials, and TAMIU repre-sentatives were personally invited by the CETICOS-ILO’s executive team to partake in the celebration of this new and historical milestone between Bra-zil and Peru ensuring more interna-tional trade opportunities across the region, thus creating a perfect oppor-tunity for the City of Laredo to build a networking channel amongst the largest private corporations and pub-lic agencies from Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Mexico.
How can Laredo reap benefits from this Interoceanic Highway? The answer is simple, the “Laredo Corridor”—composed by the Port of Laredo, and Mexican ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo (located in the Pacific Ocean)—will be able to capture a significant amount of im-ports coming from Peru, Brazil, Bo-livia, and Mercosur.
For example, just in 2009 Brazil exported to Miami over US$11 billion of goods, which Laredo will be able to handle a percentage of that share with the assistance of the Interoce-anic Highway. The possibilities of
redirecting imports through the Port of Laredo are endless because Brazil’s economy has been showing a positive growth of 3-4% on average, while Pe-ru’s economy has been growing at a pace of 7-8% in spite of the economic meltdown which started in late 2006. Not to mention the population that both countries share of 210 million people.
Therefore, as the globalization pro-cess continues taking place daily, the fact that Brazil and Peru have been able to work as a team to finish this highway represents a historic com-mitment by both nations to improve the regional economy.
So what does it mean for Laredo? What does it mean for Texas? What does it mean for the United States? In fact it means great and immediate op-portunities to export American tech-nology and goods in the form of any commodity to a consumer market potential of around 280 million con-sumers located in Peru, Brazil, and Mercosur.—Herbert A. Molina, Director, Texas Center for Border Economic and Enter-prise Development
Herbert A. MolinaDirectorTCBEED
Texas A&MInternational University
Then and Now: A Glimpse at the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development’s Tech History
The Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise De-velopment (TCBEED) also referred to as the Texas Center, and my history are intertwined. We have both come a long way. All the changes and improvements would not have been pos-sible were it not for the help of past and present colleagues. Forward thinking and long range visioning have always been the impetus for growth and changes at the Center. Its many staff members throughout the years embraced those qualities. These individuals’ innovative thinking and expertise provided the drive to push the Center forward in its growth even with limited resources.
In the earlier part of 1989, HB2974 made its way through the legislative branch of the State of Texas and was approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. This house bill became an act and with the final signature of then Governor of Texas, Bill Clements, it established a center for border economic and enterprise development at Pan Ameri-can University (University of Texas-Pan American), Laredo State University (Texas A&M International University), and the University of Texas at El Paso.
Before my arrival on April 4, 1990, the TCBEED at Laredo State University (LSU) had already been busy with the hiring of staff, placement of new technology and new responsibilities under the establishment of the Texas Center for Border Eco-nomic and Enterprise Development Consortium. Each center established had their own strengths and were encouraged to continue developing those strengths along with coalescing them under the consortium.
The TCBEED’s strength at LSU was its unique data sets complied over several years prior to the establishment of the TCBEED. These sets included international crossing data at Texas-Mexico Border cities and the cities’ economic indicators. With new hardware and software, the Center became more ef-ficient in collecting data for the region, formatting and pub-lishing of the data which permitted the timely dissemination of the Border Business Indicators (BBI). The BBI had been in hiatus until all the TCBEED’s functions could be solidified and shared maintenance with the Institute for International Trade (IIT) was worked out. The November 1990 issue of the BBI marked the restart of the informative publication and was made available to the public and private sectors of the region.
Technology wise, one could say that the Center was cut-ting edge for the area with six PC workstations, a file server, and the newest versions of Lotus 1-2-3, dBase III, WordPerfect, etc. For its time, these were the hottest items to have in a work-place, and they were used to run the everyday activities of compiling, formatting and disseminating data. All of the dis-semination of data from the Center was vía print in the form of the primary publication, Border Business Indicators, technical papers on area issues, and the Vision Economic Outlook reports, jointly published with the Laredo Chamber of Commerce.
In October 1991, I went on to another center to de-velop its operation, but returned to the Texas Center in September 1999. During this time, several former direc-tors of the TCBEED had made data additions to those that were already in place at the Center. There were needs to be addressed with the additional sets. With the addition of U.S.-Mexico trade port of entry level data for the southwest U.S. border region, and its original data sets burgeoning with over a decade of data, an “accessibility” plan was developed and put into motion.
First in order was to determine the size and type of data that would be handled—allowing for future formats. Second
was to determine how flexible the system should be for ap-plication development for the purpose of automating data cap-ture and dissemination. Last, the system needed to be robust and an industry standard that would be around for decades, since there would be a considerable amount of man-hours nec-essary to initiate and complete the data conversion from the medley of types.
Resources were allocated, and in Fall 2000, the Center took possession of the first Oracle Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) on the Texas A&M International University campus. The system consisted of a Dell Power Edge network server running Windows NT 4.0 with Oracle 8i RDBMS, an application server running proprietary applications developed with Visual Basic and a web server running Windows 2000.
The TCBEED was able to capitalize on the features of the system, and spent almost a year transferring and auditing over 10 years of data from legacy programs. Once the major trans-fer of data was accomplished, development of searchable web-based data sets became the major push of the staff. “Automa-tion” was the catch word, and time was spent in developing the web site and internal research tools. By 2003, changes had been made to data delivery of the Center’s international cross-ing data, economic indicators and international trade figures at the ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border.
At this point, the TCBEED opened new methods of access to its data on-line via the trade, crossing and economic indica-tors searchable web pages, and through publications that were posted in electronic form—PDF type documents. Along with these new means, the BBI (in its third iteration) continued to be printed, but with one difference, it was designed to be printed in-house if the need would arise—and it did in 2009, with the discontinuation of press services on campus.
With the start of a new decade, we have dusted off the wish list. We have begun to generate the priority list of soft-ware, hardware and training needs. We are ready to take the next step in the evolution of the TCBEED’s data, its utilization and its accessibility—both internally and externally. As with everything tech, we have reviewed what may be innovative in the next 5 to 10 years, and have made allowances for future innovations.
As with everything, many factors can come into play and change the course of development. The TCBEED will continue to develop what it has, but will look into the development of other services, data, etc.
For now, the catch words for the TCBEED are “innovation” and “value-added.” Those words resonate at the Center as it goes through the next step of improvements and upgrades to better serve the populace of the region.
Some of these changes are expected to be accomplished throughout 2011. Some will be whole new additions, but this “renovation period” will continue for the remainder of the de-cade. For those that are interested in these upcoming changes, subsequent TCBEED Quarterly Reports will keep everyone in-formed.
Looking back all those years, I can say they were chal-lenging ones. Accomplishing what the Center’s staff did with “bearskins and knives” over those 20 years is a credit to their ingenuity and gumption. Those same qualities are what will keep the Center relevant the next 20 years.
Being part of those 20 years has been enlightening and educational, and I look forward to another pair of decades.—Baldomero G. Garcia, Jr., Program Manager, Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development
The ‘Interoceanic Highway’: A Bridge to Trade Between the North and South American Continent
The Laredo Chamber of Commerce announced that Mr. Ed Ramirez is the new Chair-man of the Board for the Laredo Chamber of Commerce for the 2010-2011 year.
Mr. Ramirez was born and raised in Laredo, Texas and is a third generation Laredo busi-nessman. He obtained his Bach-elors in Business Administration in Accounting from Texas A&M, College Station in 1983.
After his educational achievement, he moved to San Antonio from 1983 until 1985 to serve as a member of Peat Mar-
wick (KPMG) professional team, working as an auditor. In 1985, Mr. Ramirez became a Certified Public Accountant and moved back to Laredo to pursue real estate investment opportunities. During the coming years, he started devel-oping residential subdivisions and owner financing and eventually started leasing out residential and commercial properties. Now through various family partnerships, he
has taken keen interests in ranches and minerals, as well as, real estate rentals and notes.
Through the years, Mr. Ramirez has been part of a team, who although are still considered a very small busi-ness with three full time employees and two consultants, they have been able to finance hundreds of dollars to Lar-edoans who otherwise would not have been able to finance a residential property on their own.
Mr. Ramirez has served the community through vari-ous organizations including United Way, Bethany House, the State Bar Grievance Committee, and various commit-tees for the United Independent School District. Further-more, he has served as President of the Webb County Heri-tage Foundation and the Laredo Daybreak Rotary Club.
He has been married to Adriana Gonzalez Ramirez for almost fifteen years and has two children: Edmundo (11) and Sofia (8).
As Chairman of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce, he is dedicated to focus on rehabilitating Laredo’s image so that people will know that it is a safe and peaceful city. The Chamber, in conjunction with the Alliance of Laredo Business Associations, will lobby Washington and Austin for more appropriation for the City, especially in the areas of education and infrastructure.
Ed RamirezChairman
Laredo Chamber of Commerce2010-2011
Chamber Announces New Chairman for 2010-2011
L a s t month the City of Lare-do and Tex-as A&M In-ternational University ( TA M I U ) had the op-portunity to be part of a high p r o f i l e d trade mis-sion with the coun-try of Peru.
This undertaking was spearheaded by Mr. Sergio Vizcarra, President and General Manager of the Ocean Port of CETICOS-ILO (Centro de Exportación, Transformación, Industria, Comer-cialización y Servicios-Ilo), which will become one of the founders of the “Interoceanic Highway.” This infra-structure will connect the countries of Brazil and Peru with the main objec-tive of linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans for both commercial and tour-istic purposes by the end of 2010.
Furthermore, Laredo’s private sec-tor, City officials, and TAMIU repre-sentatives were personally invited by the CETICOS-ILO’s executive team to partake in the celebration of this new and historical milestone between Bra-zil and Peru ensuring more interna-tional trade opportunities across the region, thus creating a perfect oppor-tunity for the City of Laredo to build a networking channel amongst the largest private corporations and pub-lic agencies from Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Mexico.
How can Laredo reap benefits from this Interoceanic Highway? The answer is simple, the “Laredo Corridor”—composed by the Port of Laredo, and Mexican ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo (located in the Pacific Ocean)—will be able to capture a significant amount of im-ports coming from Peru, Brazil, Bo-livia, and Mercosur.
For example, just in 2009 Brazil exported to Miami over US$11 billion of goods, which Laredo will be able to handle a percentage of that share with the assistance of the Interoce-anic Highway. The possibilities of
redirecting imports through the Port of Laredo are endless because Brazil’s economy has been showing a positive growth of 3-4% on average, while Pe-ru’s economy has been growing at a pace of 7-8% in spite of the economic meltdown which started in late 2006. Not to mention the population that both countries share of 210 million people.
Therefore, as the globalization pro-cess continues taking place daily, the fact that Brazil and Peru have been able to work as a team to finish this highway represents a historic com-mitment by both nations to improve the economy.
So what does it mean for Laredo? What does it mean for Texas? What does it mean for the United States? In fact it means great and immediate op-portunities to export American tech-nology and goods in the form of any commodity to a consumer market potential of around 280 million con-sumers located in Peru, Brazil, and Mercosur.—Herbert A. Molina, Director, Texas Center for Border Economic and Enter-prise Development
Herbert A. MolinaDirectorTCBEED
Texas A&MInternational University
Then and Now: A Glimpse at the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development’s Tech History
The Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise De-velopment (TCBEED) also referred to as the Texas Center, and my history are intertwined. We have both come a long way. All the changes and improvements would not have been pos-sible were it not for the help of past and present colleagues. Forward thinking and long range visioning have always been the impetus for growth and changes at the Center. Its many staff members throughout the years embraced those qualities. These individuals’ innovative thinking and expertise provided the drive to push the Center forward in its growth even with limited resources.
In the earlier part of 1989, HB2974 made its way through the legislative branch of the State of Texas and was approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. This house bill became an act and with the final signature of then Governor of Texas, Bill Clements, it established a center for border economic and enterprise development at Pan Ameri-can University (University of Texas-Pan American), Laredo State University (Texas A&M International University), and the University of Texas at El Paso.
Before my arrival on April 4, 1990, the TCBEED at Laredo State University (LSU) had already been busy with the hiring of staff, placement of new technology and new responsibilities under the establishment of the Texas Center for Border Eco-nomic and Enterprise Development Consortium. Each center established had their own strengths and were encouraged to continue developing those strengths along with coalescing them under the consortium.
The TCBEED’s strength at LSU was its unique data sets complied over several years prior to the establishment of the TCBEED. These sets included international crossing data at Texas-Mexico Border cities and the cities’ economic indicators. With new hardware and software, the Center became more ef-ficient in collecting data for the region, formatting and pub-lishing of the data which permitted the timely dissemination of the Border Business Indicators (BBI). The BBI had been in hiatus until all the TCBEED’s functions could be solidified and shared maintenance with the Institute for International Trade (IIT) was worked out. The November 1990 issue of the BBI marked the restart of the informative publication and was made available to the public and private sectors of the region.
Technology wise, one could say that the Center was cut-ting edge for the area with six PC workstations, a file server, and the newest versions of Lotus 1-2-3, dBase III, WordPerfect, etc. For its time, these were the hottest items to have in a work-place, and they were used to run the everyday activities of compiling, formatting and disseminating data. All of the dis-semination of data from the Center was vía print in the form of the primary publication, Border Business Indicators, technical papers on area issues, and the Vision Economic Outlook reports, jointly published with the Laredo Chamber of Commerce.
In October 1991, I went on to another center to de-velop its operation, but returned to the Texas Center in September 1999. During this time, several former direc-tors of the TCBEED had made data additions to those that were already in place at the Center. There were needs to be addressed with the additional sets. With the addition of U.S.-Mexico trade port of entry level data for the southwest U.S. border region, and its original data sets burgeoning with over a decade of data, an “accessibility” plan was developed and put into motion.
First in order was to determine the size and type of data that would be handled—allowing for future formats. Second
was to determine how flexible the system should be for ap-plication development for the purpose of automating data cap-ture and dissemination. Last, the system needed to be robust and an industry standard that would be around for decades, since there would be a considerable amount of man-hours nec-essary to initiate and complete the data conversion from the medley of types.
Resources were allocated, and in Fall 2000, the Center took possession of the first Oracle Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) on the Texas A&M International University campus. The system consisted of a Dell Power Edge network server running Windows NT 4.0 with Oracle 8i RDBMS, an application server running proprietary applications developed with Visual Basic and a web server running Windows 2000.
The TCBEED was able to capitalize on the features of the system, and spent almost a year transferring and auditing over 10 years of data from legacy programs. Once the major trans-fer of data was accomplished, development of searchable web-based data sets became the major push of the staff. “Automa-tion” was the catch word, and time was spent in developing the web site and internal research tools. By 2003, changes had been made to data delivery of the Center’s international cross-ing data, economic indicators and international trade figures at the ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border.
At this point, the TCBEED opened new methods of access to its data on-line via the trade, crossing and economic indica-tors searchable web pages, and through publications that were posted in electronic form—PDF type documents. Along with these new means, the BBI (in its third iteration) continued to be printed, but with one difference, it was designed to be printed in-house if the need would arise—and it did in 2009, with the discontinuation of press services on campus.
With the start of a new decade, we have dusted off the wish list. We have begun to generate the priority list of soft-ware, hardware and training needs. We are ready to take the next step in the evolution of the TCBEED’s data, its utilization and its accessibility—both internally and externally. As with everything tech, we have reviewed what may be innovative in the next 5 to 10 years, and have made allowances for future innovations.
As with everything, many factors can come into play and change the course of development. The TCBEED will continue to develop what it has, but will look into the development of other services, data, etc.
For now, the catch words for the TCBEED are “innovation” and “value-added.” Those words resonate at the Center as it goes through the next step of improvements and upgrades to better serve the populace of the region.
Some of these changes are expected to be accomplished throughout 2011. Some will be whole new additions, but this “renovation period” will continue for the remainder of the de-cade. For those that are interested in these upcoming changes, subsequent TCBEED Quarterly Reports will keep everyone in-formed.
Looking back all those years, I can say they were chal-lenging ones. Accomplishing what the Center’s staff did with “bearskins and knives” over those 20 years is a credit to their ingenuity and gumption. Those same qualities are what will keep the Center relevant the next 20 years.
Being part of those 20 years has been enlightening and educational, and I look forward to another pair of decades.—Baldomero G. Garcia, Jr., Program Manager, Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development
The ‘Interoceanic Highway’: A Bridge to Trade Between the North and South American Continent
The Laredo Chamber of Commerce announced that Mr. Ed Ramirez is the new Chair-man of the Board for the Laredo Chamber of Commerce for the 2010-2011 year.
Mr. Ramirez was born and raised in Laredo, Texas and is a third generation Laredo busi-nessman. He obtained his Bach-elors in Business Administration in Accounting from Texas A&M, College Station in 1983.
After his educational achievement, he moved to San Antonio from 1983 until 1985 to serve as a member of Peat Mar-
wick (KPMG) professional team, working as an auditor. In 1985, Mr. Ramirez became a Certified Public Accountant and moved back to Laredo to pursue real estate investment opportunities. During the coming years, he started devel-oping residential subdivisions and owner financing and eventually started leasing out residential and commercial properties. Now through various family partnerships, he
has taken keen interests in ranches and minerals, as well as, real estate rentals and notes.
Through the years, Mr. Ramirez has been part of a team, who although are still considered a very small busi-ness with three full time employees and two consultants, they have been able to finance hundreds of dollars to Lar-edoans who otherwise would not have been able to finance a residential property on their own.
Mr. Ramirez has served the community through vari-ous organizations including United Way, Bethany House, the State Bar Grievance Committee, and various commit-tees for the United Independent School District. Further-more, he has served as President of the Webb County Heri-tage Foundation and the Laredo Daybreak Rotary Club.
He has been married to Adriana Gonzalez Ramirez for almost fifteen years and has two children: Edmundo (11) and Sofia (8).
As Chairman of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce, he is dedicated to focus on rehabilitating Laredo’s image so that people will know that it is a safe and peaceful city. The Chamber, in conjunction with the Alliance of Laredo Business Associations, will lobby Washington and Austin for more appropriation for the City, especially in the areas of education and infrastructure.
Ed RamirezChairman
Laredo Chamber of Commerce2010-2011
Chamber Announces New Chairman for 2010-2011
Border Business Indicators
The Border Business Indicators (BBI), a Texas Center publication from 1990 to the present, has been in existence in a variety of formats since the 1980s. In its present configuration, the BBI covers twenty-two economic indicators for cities along the Rio Grande from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas.
On March 2003, the Border Business Indicators was reformatted to pro-vide a more concise and “fast read” of the economic indicators for those cities on the Texas-Mexico border. In this current iteration, U.S.-Mexico trade information was incorporated as part of the monthly offer-ings in the BBI. Along with the inclusion of trade data, the fifteen indicators in the BBI publication were synchronized to the searchable data sets available on the on the Texas Center web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Vision Economic Outlook Report
The Texas Center’s ongoing work with business and community organizations may result in a variety of collaborative publications and materials. One such publication is the Vision Economic Outlook Report.
The Vision Economic Outlook Report is prepared in cooperation with the Laredo Chamber of Commerce and has been in publication since the 1990s. The publication is distributed at the Vision Conferences held annually. The Vision Report provides a view of the City of Laredo’s economic indica-tors, trade data and a timely point of the interest to the community. It is published once a year and is freely available at the Center’s web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Texas Center Web Site
Since it first came on-line in 1998, the Texas Center’s web site has been available to the public and has provided economic and trade data. From 2001, the Center has added searchable data directly from our data sets. In addition, links to other resources were included to guide users to other sites with valuable data and information. Subsequently, specialty publications were added to the site providing insight into the region. As the new decade approaches, the Center staff is working on plans to offer new data searches, filters, and reports. If you have not visited our site recent-ly, do so as we start to upgrade our site http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Texas Center Quarterly Report
First published in the Summer of 2009, the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development Quarterly Report provides current information regard-ing on-going projects, additions or modifications to data sets and personnel changes.
Texas A&M International University
Texas Center for Border Economic andEnterprise Development
QUARTERLY REPORTSummer 2010
Border
Busine
ss Ind
icator
s
Texas
A&M
Inte
rnat
ional
Univ
ersi
ty
Texas
Cen
ter f
or Bord
er E
conom
ic a
nd Ente
rpris
e Dev
elopm
ent
Contin
ued o
n Bac
k Pag
e
http://
texa
scen
ter.t
amiu
.edu
Lared
o, Tex
as
Vol. 32
No. 1
2•
Decem
ber 2
008
U.S.-M
exico
200
8 Tra
de Fig
ures
Show Incr
ease
Ove
r 200
7
From th
e ons
et, 2
008
grow
th in
U.S. e
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico h
ad
been
in th
e dou
ble-d
igits
and U
.S. im
ports
grow
th ha
d bee
n in t
he
uppe
r sin
gle-d
igits
(7-9
perce
nt). T
he pe
rcent
age g
rowth
of tra
de
figur
es ha
s bee
n bett
er in
2008
year-
to-d
ate ag
ainst
thos
e of t
he
same p
eriod
in 2
007.
U.S. e
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico—
up to
Octo
ber
2008
—main
taine
d a 13
.3 pe
rcent
avera
ge in
creas
e ove
r the s
ame
perio
d in 2
007.
Simila
rly, U
.S. im
ports
from
Mex
ico co
ntin
ued
posti
ng an
avera
ge of
7.4 p
ercen
t for
the s
ame p
eriod
.
In T
able
1, th
e to
tal d
ollar
valu
e of
all
mercha
ndise
trad
e
($31
5.6 b
illion
) was
up
9.4 p
ercen
t for
Octo
ber 2
008
YTD
again
st th
e sam
e peri
od in
2007
($28
8.6 bi
llion
). Alth
ough
, trad
e
betw
een t
he tr
adin
g part
ners
was up
, the U
.S. s
light
ly re
duce
d its
trade
defi
cit w
ith M
exico
. The
Octo
ber 2
007
YTD defi
cit w
as
$60.2
bill
ion.
U.S. i
mports
from
Mex
ico o
utpa
ced
expo
rts to
Mex
ico in
200
8 res
ultin
g in
a de
ficit
of $
56.8
billi
on. D
ue to
stron
ger e
xpor
ts fig
ures
, the
re was
5.6
perce
nt d
ecrea
se in
the
grow
th of
the d
eficit
in O
ctobe
r 200
8 YTD.
Of the
$31
5.6 b
illio
n do
llar v
alue o
f thi
s merc
hand
ise tr
ade
betw
een t
he tra
ding p
artne
rs in
2008
YTD, $
242.4
billi
on or
76.8
perce
nt w
as p
roce
ssed
at U
.S.-M
exico
bor
der p
orts
of e
ntry
.
Texas
bord
er po
rts of
entry
acco
unted
for $
184.9
billi
on or
76.3
perce
nt of
that
total
trad
e merc
hand
ise va
lue (
See Tab
le 2 a
nd 3)
.
On the
back
page
, Tab
les 5
and 6
delin
eate
the 2
7 por
ts of
entry
on th
e U.S
.-Mex
ico bo
rder,
and t
he do
llar v
alue o
f U.S
. exp
orts
to M
exico
, and
U.S
. impo
rts fr
om M
exico
pass
ing t
hrou
gh th
em
respe
ctive
ly. —
B. Gar
cia
Tab
le 1
U.S.-M
exic
o Trade
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
U.S. E
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico
114.
2
129.
4
13.3
U.S. I
mpo
rts fr
om M
exico
174.
4
186.
2
6.8
Total T
rade
288.
6
315.
6
9.4
Table
2
U.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de Pro
cess
ed b
y U.S
.-Mex
ico B
order
Ports
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
U.S. E
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico
95.8
105.
9
10.5
U.S. I
mpo
rts fr
om M
exico
136.
9
136.
5
-0.3
Total T
rade
232.
7
242.
4
4.2
Table
3
U.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de Pro
cess
ed b
y Tex
as B
order
Ports
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
Texas
Bor
der P
orts
177.
6
184.
9
4.1
Other
U.S
.-Mex
ico B
orde
r Por
ts
55.2
57.5
4.2
Total T
rade
232.
8
242.
4
4.1
Note:
Figure
s may
not m
atch
due t
o rou
nding
.
Table
4
Total U
.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de
Proce
ssed
by U
.S.-M
exic
o Bord
er P
orts
(In U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Port of E
ntry
Total
Total
Change
Browns
ville
11,1
60,7
67,5
08
11,0
43,0
57,2
67
-1.1
Del Rio
2,74
9,95
3,47
1
2,48
6,31
2,25
6
-9.6
Eagle
Pass
10,1
53,8
83,6
82
10,2
89,2
60,4
02
1.3
Lare
do
92,5
26,3
83,7
00
99,3
53,1
83,9
63
7.4
Hidalgo
18,4
51,8
67,2
75
19,0
61,5
85,4
59
3.3
Rio Gra
nde
256,
459,
216
384,
805,
868
50.0
Progr
eso
243,
215,
929
348,
307,
724
43.2
Roma
145,
995,
067
159,
073,
585
9.0
Edinbu
rg A
irpor
t
0
2,75
0
-
El Pas
o
41,4
94,9
90,2
42
41,2
53,3
95,7
69
-0.6
Presid
io
374,
065,
616
483,
490,
744
29.3
Faben
s
4,73
5,24
7
25,7
85,5
05
444.
5
Colum
bus
45,9
84,8
24
41,4
78,1
89
-9.8
Santa
Ter
esa
1,12
5,97
3,82
5
1,04
5,75
9,37
8
-7.1
Santa
Ter
esa A
irpor
t
0
0
-
Andra
de
1,19
0,40
2
1,89
1,95
7
58.9
Calexic
o
29,2
81,0
20
46,6
90,6
36
59.5
San Y
sidro
136,
804,
203
222,
947,
645
63.0
Tecat
e
1,03
6,81
4,23
0
973,
173,
711
-6.1
Otay M
esa S
tatio
n
25,2
80,7
97,8
96
27,1
87,8
70,2
28
7.5
Calexic
o-Eas
t
10,0
50,2
45,6
27
9,80
2,72
3,54
4
-2.5
Dougla
s
1,11
6,89
1,43
0
1,00
3,69
0,74
4
-10.
1
Luke
ville
9,98
3,27
3
8,66
7,03
0
-13.
2
Naco
113,
492,
349
36,8
99,6
51
-67.
5
Nogale
s
15,3
79,4
48,8
29
16,1
40,3
02,1
00
4.9
Sasab
e
570,
333
1,23
1,03
2
115.
8
San L
uis
868,
983,
561
960,
262,
686
10.5
Total T
rade
232,
758,
778,
755
242,
361,
849,
823
4.1
The Stat
e of L
aredo’s
Economy i
n 2008
By
Pablo
Camac
ho-G
utierr
ez, Ass
istan
t Profes
sor
of Eco
nomics
, Divisio
n of
Intern
ation
al
Bankin
g and
Fina
nce S
tudies
, A.R
. San
chez
Jr., S
choo
l of B
usine
ss, T
exas
A&M In
terna
tiona
l
Univers
ity
Vision 20
09
During
the p
ast tw
o cen
turies
, Lare
do h
as be
en at
the c
rossro
ads o
f U.S.-M
exico
trade
and c
ommerc
e. As th
e city
of 22
2,482
inhab
itants
enter
s the n
ew m
illenn
ium, L
aredo
will co
ntinu
e to s
hape
the d
estiny
of th
e reg
ion. T
remen
dous
effort
s are
unde
rway
to
maintai
n a co
mpetiti
ve bu
siness
envir
onmen
t. In t
his re
gard,
exten
sive p
artici
patio
n by
the bu
siness
commun
ity w
ill ha
llmark
how w
ell w
e are
prepa
red to
addre
ss bo
th the
increa
se in
growth
and c
ommerc
e.
The Lare
do C
hambe
r of C
ommerc
e, ov
er 70
0 mem
bers
stron
g, ha
s a vi
sion a
nd go
al
to fos
ter th
e ong
oing b
etterm
ent o
f the c
ommun
ity an
d reg
ion as
well
as en
coura
ge an
d
promote
the m
ainten
ance
of a c
ompe
titive
busin
ess se
ctor. T
here
are th
ree pr
ime f
actors
that b
ode w
ell fo
r the
futur
e of L
aredo
: firs
t is th
e grow
ing ac
tive w
ork fo
rce, s
econd
the co
ntinu
ed di
versi
ficati
on of
all e
cono
mic sec
tors,
and t
hird,
a sign
ifican
t pub
lic-
priva
te inf
rastru
cture
initia
tive t
o enh
ance
all ar
eas of
the r
egion
’s tra
nsport
ation
corri
-
dors
and s
uppo
rt serv
ices.
The 20
09 V
ision
Con
feren
ce int
ends
to foc
us on
the d
ynam
ic co
mmercial
viab
ility o
f
the ci
ty an
d the
trad
itiona
l link
ages
with co
unter
parts
in M
exico
and t
he Sou
th Tex
as
region
. The
mem
bersh
ip of
the Lare
do C
hambe
r of C
ommerc
e loo
ks for
ward to
conti
n-
ued
region
al an
d tra
nsnati
onal
coop
eratio
n. Thu
s, thi
s pub
licati
on is
a sn
apsho
t of
Laredo
’s rec
ent g
rowth
and t
rade a
ctivit
ies.
Formulat
ing a Visi
on
The
Purp
ose o
f the V
ision 2
009 C
onfer
ence
and T
rade M
ission
Econom
ic O
utlook
Rep
ort
Chambe
r of C
ommerc
e
Lared
o, Tex
as Volu
me 11,
Issue
1
May 20
09
Importa
nt Fac
ts:
• The P
ort of L
aredo is
the
larges
t port
of entry
on the
U.S.-Mex
ico bord
er, an
d the
third la
rges
t inlan
d border
port of e
ntry beh
ind Detr
oit,
MI and B
uffalo, N
Y.
• The P
ort of L
aredo han
dles
over 4
0 % of U
.S.-Mex
ico
trade.
• Ove
r 10,0
00 tr
ucks c
ross
at
the Port
of Lare
do daily.
Inside T
his Iss
ue...
The Stat
e of L
aredo’s
Economy
in 2008
.......
........
........
........
...... 1
Intern
ation
al Cros
sings
Pedes
trian .
........
........
........
.... 2
Vehicl
e ......
........
........
........
..... 2
Truck ..
........
........
........
........
.... 3
Rail ...
........
........
........
........
..... 3
Intern
ation
al Air C
argo .
........
. 3
Bridge
Rev
enue
s ......
........
..... 4
Constr
uctio
n Sec
tor
Buildin
g Perm
its ...
........
........
. 5
Intern
ation
al Trad
e and
Commerc
e
Retail S
ales .
........
........
........
.. 5
Sales T
ax R
ebate
s ......
........
.. 5
Reces
sion an
d Peso
Deprec
iation: W
hat a M
ix for
Laredo! ..
........
........
........
........
... 6
Other In
dicato
rs ....
........
........
... 8
U.S.-Mex
ico Trad
e in 20
08 an
d
the Port
of Lare
do ........
........
... 10
Laredo
’s eco
nomy s
howed
sign
s of s
lowing
down i
n 200
6 and
2007
. In 2
008,
the
Laredo
econ
omy s
howed
sign
s of a
reces
sion.
Pedest
rian c
rossin
gs co
ntinu
ed in
2008
its in
creasi
ng pa
ttern
that s
tarted
in 20
05; n
oneth
eless,
retai
l sale
s drop
ped w
ith re
spect
to its
2007
leve
l, an
d sale
s tax
reba
tes re
mained
stag
nant
at its
2007
leve
l. Veh
icle
crossi
ngs c
ontin
ued i
ts de
creasi
ng pa
ttern
that s
tarted
in 19
99. T
ruck c
rossin
g rem
ained
stagn
ant fo
r a th
ird ye
ar in
a row
. Rail
cars
crossi
ngs a
nd ai
r carg
o inc
reased
the r
ate at
which h
ave b
een de
creasi
ng si
nce 2
006.
The va
lue of
build
ing pe
rmits
expe
rienc
ed a
sharp
decre
ase. T
he nu
mber o
f emplo
yed i
ndivi
duals
grew
in 20
08, b
ut so
did po
pula-
tion i
n Lare
do. T
he re
sult w
as an
incre
ase in
the u
nemplo
ymen
t rate.
The to
tal va
lue of
U.S.-Mex
ico tr
ade t
hat c
rossed
Lare
do in
2008
incre
ased w
ith re
spect
to 20
07; h
ow-
ever,
U.S.-M
exico
trade
decre
ased l
ast N
ovem
ber a
nd D
ecembe
r.
Despite
the e
cono
mic ha
rdship
that
Laredo
is fa
cing,
the av
erage
citiz
en in
Laredo
is
bette
r off
today
than
, say
, a de
cade a
go du
e to t
he ex
traord
inary
econo
mic gro
wth tha
t
the ci
ty ha
s enjo
yed i
n its
recen
t past
. Lare
do re
mains a
s a m
ajor p
layer
in int
ernati
onal
trade
, a to
p-thre
e inla
nd bo
rder p
ort in
the U
.S., and
hand
les 40
perce
nt of
U.S.-Mex
ico
trade
.
(Con
tinue
d on p
age 2
)
Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development Quarterly Reports are prepared by the Center’s staff for the purpose of communicating to the public the Center’s mission, activities and services available to the area.
Have any questions about the Center, feel free to contact us at:Texas A&M International University Voice: 956-326-2545Texas Center FAX: 956-326-25445201 University Boulevard E-mail: [email protected], TX 78041 Visit our web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu
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s Cen
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r Bor
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ise D
evelo
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t
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09Tex
asCen
terfo
r Border
Econom
ican
dEnter
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ent
Texas
A&MIn
ternati
onalUniv
ersit
y·
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5201
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sity
Boulevar
d·
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o, TX. 7804
1-190
0 Telephone:
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