Cytozyme, a Salt Lake City-based biotechnology company best known for plant-growth enhancement products used to increase crop yields worldwide, started selling its products in Mexico more than two decades ago. The company anticipates its new lines will increase sales several hundred percent in that country over the next few years.

"Mexico always has been an excellent market for us," said Steve Baughman, Cytozyme's founder and president. "We have established distribution channels there that have served us very well. And now those distributors have indicated they're willing to step up and do even more."

Thousands of Utah companies like Cytozyme are doing business in Mexico today. Combined, those companies sell more than $120 million worth of merchandise south of the U.S. border. And with the arrival today of Mexico President Vicente Fox, the issue of increasing Utah/Mexico trade is expected to be a hot discussion topic.

"We have many, many companies doing business in Mexico, but there still are large numbers that have yet to take advantage of the close proximity of that market," said MIguel Rovira, regional director for Latin America and Canada at the Governor's Office of Economic Development. "One of the big advantages of trading with Mexico is that their businesses practices are very similar to our own."

Utah's exports to Mexico increased 77 percent over the past decade, rising from $72 million in 1996 to $128 million in 2005, Rovira noted. During the past 12 months, Utah exports to the south are increasing at a 7 percent pace.

Products exported to Mexico represent virtually every segment of the state's economy, from software to molybdenum ore mined at Kennecott Utah Copper to automobile parts used in Mexico to assemble vehicles - many of which eventually are returned to the U.S. for sale.

"The flow of goods and services goes both way," Rovira said. "It is a mutually beneficial relationship."

Although Mexico is Utah's 10th-largest trading partner in dollar volume of exports, University of Utah economist Ken Jameson suggested that ranking may underplay Mexico's role in the state's economy.

"If you look at our largest trading partners - Canada, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Japan - much of those exports represent gold that was mined in Nevada, refined in Utah and then shipped to those countries," Jameson said. "Once you get past that gold component [in the trade numbers], Mexico would rank much closer to the top of the list of Utah trading partners."

Jameson, who recently was part of a research team that drafted a study titled "Mexico and Utah: A Complex Economic Relationship," said ties between the two trading partners are complex and far reaching. "And they're only going to get stronger over the years."

He noted that data from the study illustrated that Utah has a stronger relationship with Mexico than any surrounding non-border state. "Among neighboring states, only Colorado's trade with Mexico is larger and increasing at a faster rate," Jameson added.

Darin Parker of Parker International, a Utah company that trades specialty meats and other food items, said his company's business with Mexico has increased along with the state's.

"There is a strong demand there for U.S. products, and proximity may have something to do with it," he said. "They are familiar with U.S.- made products. I'd say Mexico is definitely one of those places where Utah businesses should be involved."

Utah's exports to Mexico: A 5-year look

2005: $128 million

2004: $122 million

2003: $111 million

2002: $134 million

2001: $113 million