At $4.2 billion as of August 2004, exports of American-made construction machinery were up 19 percent from the same time last year, according to data released by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
All major world regions bought more equipment between January and June of 2004 than they did for the same time period in 2003.
South America showed the biggest increase by taking in $500 million worth of construction equipment, a 61 percent swell from its 2003 first-half purchases.
Exports to Australia/Oceania rose 71 percent to a total of $395 million for the first half of 2004 and exports of construction equipment to Asia totaled $533 million, a 13 percent increase.
Africa purchased $187 million worth of U.S. construction equipment, an increase of 25 percent over mid-year 2003.
Central America made a gain of 16 percent with total purchases of $386 million.
Exports also increased by 11 percent to Canada, which purchased $1.46 billion in American-made construction equipment.
Europe was the only region not showing double-digit increases with a 3 percent gain over first-half 2003 purchases.
The top 10 destinations for American-produced construction machinery in the first half of 2004 were: Canada ($1.46 billion), Australia ($372 million), Mexico ($299 million), Belgium ($173.5 million), Chile ($165 million), Brazil ($127 million), Germany ($126 million), China ($121 million), United Kingdom ($85 million) and South America ($80 million).
The AEM trade group consolidates U.S. Commerce Department data with other sources into a quarterly export trends report for members.