Exports by Greater Des Moines companies topped $1 billion for a fourth consecutive year in 2015, but dipped last year after three consecutive years of growth, according to figures released today by the U.S. Commerce Department. Fewer than one-third of metropolitan areas recorded growth in exports in 2015, according to the report.

Exports for the Des Moines metropolitan statistical area were $1.047 billion, down 23 percent from $1.362 billion in 2014.  

Key merchandise export categories for the Des Moines MSA in 2015 included processed foods, plastics and rubber products, and chemicals, each of which showed year-over-year declines in exports from 2014. One of the metro’s largest export categories, chemical manufacturing, dropped to $112 million, from $236 million the previous year. Among the products included in that category are farm pesticides, fertilizer and other agricultural chemicals.

In 2015, merchandise trade exports to the world from the 388 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas totaled $1.33 trillion, with merchandise exports from nonmetropolitan areas totaling an additional $172 billion. As a whole, the U.S. exported $1.5 trillion in goods and $751 billion in services in 2015.

Des Moines was among 156 MSAs that topped $1 billion in exports, along with the Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Sioux City MSAs.

Maintaining an export level above the $1 billion mark puts Greater Des Moines on par with many metro areas that are much larger, “and I think that should be applauded,” said Patricia Cook, director of the U.S. Commercial Service Export Assistance Center in Des Moines.