Colorado ag exports up in first half of year

By The AP
Wednesday, August 25, 2010

DENVER — Colorado officials say the state’s agricultural exports through the first half of the year are up 27 percent from the same period last year, to $508.9 million.

Colorado exports of meat, hides and skins, animal products such as milk, eggs and honey, miscellaneous food and miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit are all up.

Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture John Stulp says he’s encouraged by a nearly 91 percent increase in exports of hides, which are turned into car interiors and consumer goods such as purses and jackets.

Tim Larsen of the Colorado Agriculture Department says that nationally, hide exports are up 61 percent. He says he’s eager to see whether that’s an early sign of global economic activity picking up.