US Commerce Department: Greater Boston exports rose 2.2 percent in 2011

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Greater Boston’s merchandise exports totaled $22.3 billion in 2011, up $500 million or 2.2 percent, from exports in 2010, a unit of the US Department of Commerce said Wednesday.

Key export categories for the Boston metropolitan area last year included computer and electronic parts, machinery, manufactured commodities, chemicals, said the department’s International Trade Administration.

Top markets included Canada, Japan, China, Germany, and Ireland.

Will that growth continue in 2012? That may depend on Europe.

Massachusetts is particularly vulnerable to conditions in Europe, because it relies more heavily on European commerce than other parts of the country, a Globe story in July noted. Europe accounts for 40 percent of Massachusetts exports, about double the US average. More than two dozen Massachusetts public companies get at least a third of their revenue from overseas, mostly from Europe, according to the financial reporting firm Standard & Poor’s.