Metro Atlanta is the U.S.’s 19th-largest metropolitan export market by sales in the first half of 2007, according to new data released by the Commerce Department. 

Statistics from the department’s International Trade Administration examining 369 cities showed that Atlanta exported $5.98 billion in the first six months of last year.

That number puts the Georgia capital on pace to surpass the approximately $11.4 billion in goods it exported in 2006, although the new numbers showed Atlanta down two slots from its 2006 ranking of 17th, where it had held steady since 2005.

Atlanta exported more than $1.2 billion in transportation equipment, the top category in dollar value.  The rest of the top five categories include machinery except electrical, computer and electronic products, chemicals and food, in that order.

Canada remained the city’s top export destination, and Mexico held firm at second place, followed by Singapore, Germany, Japan, China and the United Kingdom, respectively.

In the first half of 2007, Atlanta accounted for 57.2 percent of Georgia’s export revenues, a small drop in proportion from 2006, when it made up 57.9 percent.  Savannah, which exported $1.12 billion in the same period, accounted for 10.7 percent of the state’s exports.

The top 10 exporting metro areas in the country were as follows: New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Detroit-Warren-Livonia,         Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Boston-Cambridge-Quincy.