Fish leaving Alaska bound for foreign countries don’t carry a “Made in Alaska” label, but if they did, Chinese consumers might have noticed more of them showing up recently. 

According to data released Tuesday by the Governor’s Office, China overtook Japan to become Alaska’s largest trading partner in 2011.  The country imported nearly $1.4 billion in Alaskan products or about 28 percent of the state’s exports.

More than half of that - $805 million - was seafood.  

State Director of International Trade Patricia Eckert says Alaskan seafood exports to Asia are increasing more rapidly in value than in volume.  That means Asian consumers are buying more and more expensive fish from Alaska.

Meanwhile the reverse is true for Europe, which imported more, less expensive fish in 2011.

But across the board, the revenues from fisheries exports increased, totaling $2.4 billion.  That makes seafood almost half of Alaska’s $5 billion export economy.

Relative to other states in the nation, Alaska isn’t a huge exporter, coming in forty-second on the list.  But Eckert says that doesn’t reflect a key feature of the state – its small population.

 “If you were to calculate the per capita exports for each state in the Union, I think you’d easily find that Alaska was in the top 10.”

Which, if you’re curious – translates to roughly $7,000 in exports per person.