Few U.S. companies seek to export

Only about 1 percent, or roughly 280,000, of American companies export, and that share isn’t growing, although existing exporters are increasing their foreign market share, a trade analyst told a Jacksonville symposium Tuesday morning.

Jorge Arce, director of the U.S. Commercial Service’s Jacksonville office, said about 97 percent of U.S. exporters are small companies, and most of those have 15 or less employees. Queries to his office from companies looking to get into exporting have been nearly nonexistent during the recession.