FSC Architects is headquartered in Honolulu but generates most of its revenue in Asia.
The architectural design firm, which in 2013 was named the Hawaii Small Business Administration’s Exporter of the Year, made all its money during that period outside the United States.
In 2014 the company, which specializes in high-end resort and hospitality projects, generated about 80 percent of its revenue abroad.
While Hawaii’s export business may represent a small piece of the pie on a national level, it has been gradually gaining traction over the last decade.
Hawaii exported $1.5 billion worth of goods and services last year, up 150 percent from $600 million in 2013 and up 253 percent from $400 million in 2004, according to a report scheduled for release Thursday by the United States Trade Representative.
There were 6,198 jobs in Hawaii that were supported either directly or indirectly by the goods exported from the islands in 2014. And of the 862 exporting Hawaii companies in 2013 — the most recent data available —87.1 percent were small or medium-size businesses.
FSC Architects, which has 15 employees, exported $2.5 million worth of services in the year it won the exporter award.
"We’re a professional service organization and usually that award is won by the macadamia nut or the Kona coffee industry, so we’re quite proud of that," said Jim Freeman, one of three co-founders of the company along with Ralph Shelbourne and Benjamin Candari. "Most architects get excited about design awards but personally this is one of the things I’m most proud of. It just goes to show that professional services from the state of Hawaii can be sold abroad. We do have experts and services we can sell — just not coconuts, coffee beans and macadamia nuts."
Still, exports are a small part of Hawaii’s nearly $80 billion economy, and Hawaii ranked last among the 50 states for total value of exports and number of jobs supportered by exports in 2014.
However, in terms of percentage growth, the state ranked third — primarily because it is coming from such a low base.
Over the last 10 years, the value of Hawaii’s exports increased 253 percent from $400 million in 2004. The number of jobs supported directly and indirectly by the export of goods over the last five years rose 66 percent from 3,743 jobs in 2009.
By comparison, Texas ranks No. 1 in both categories in terms of raw numbers in 2014 with $289 billion worth of exports and 1.1 million jobs supported by exports.
"Trade is major driver of economic growth and job supporter in each state, including Hawaii," said deputy assistant Trevor Kincaid of the U.S. Trade Representative. "It’s clear from this data that businesses across the state are seizing the opportunity trade holds in record numbers since trade has exploded 253 percent in only 10 years."
In 2014, there were 11.7 million jobs in the U.S. supported by exports, the USTR said. Currently, about 300,000 small and medium-sized businesses — or 98 percent of all American goods exporters — ship goods to foreign destinations.
Freeman said it’s an advantage for FSC Architects to service Asia from Hawaii.
"Serving our clients in Europe is a little distant, but being here in the middle of the Pacific and in a time zone that is not too far off from most of Asia, we find as an American company based here it’s a lot easier to service Asia than it is for American companies back on the mainland or certainly on the East Coast," Freeman said.
FSC, which was started in 2010, does most of its work throughout Asia, particularly China; Bali, Indonesia; the Philippines; Maldives; Sri Lanka and Taiwan. In 2014, FSC Architects saw its revenue dip to $2 million, a decline that Freeman attributes to a slowdown in China over the last couple of years.
The company generated 20 percent of its revenue domestically last year as well after working on the design of a high-end timeshare project on Kauai — the 329-unit Coconut Beach Resort in Kapaa.
The top manufacturing export in Hawaii in 2014 was transportation equipment, of which $479 million worth of goods were shipped out of the country. That was followed by petroleum and coal products, $426 million; chemicals, $153 million; computer and electronic products, 52 million; and processed foods, $42 million.
For agricultural exports, the top item in 2013 — the last year data are available — was plant products, $383 million; followed by livestock products, $42 million; processed fruits and nuts, $38 million; fresh fruit, $18 million; and processed vegetables, $17 million.
