U.S. exports, driven by the weakened value of the U.S. dollar on global markets, will grow at nearly double the pace of imports this year,Mario O. Moreno, economist for The Journal of Commerce, said in an updated forecast of ocean shipping volume for 2011.

"Imports are being affected by the economy and the impact of rising prices on consumer demand, but the global rebound in manufacturing and the weak dollar are making this a very strong year for exports," said Moreno, working with ocean container shipping figures from PIERS, a sister company of The Journal of Commerce.

Moreno lowered his growth forecast for imports this year to 4.6 percent from the 6.7 percent he predicted three months ago. He raised his forecast for export growth to 10 percent from 8.3 percent.

The forecast was included in the annual Journal of Commerce Top 100 Importers and Exporters rankings and analysis for 2010 released in theMay 30edition of the publication.

Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, held its No. 1 position on the Top 100 Importers list, shipping nearly 700,000 20-foot-equivalent units of containerized cargo in 2010, outpacing Target — in the No. 2 spot with 455,500 TEUs — by more than 50 percent. Wal-Mart's low 1.8 percent year-over-year growth is partly due to supply chain innovation and packaging efficiency, reports the JOC, along with tighter inventory control.

Wastepaper was at the forefront of exports asAmerica Chung Namheld at No. 1, with a 16 percent jump to 300,800 TEUs, and International Paper jumped to No. 2.America Chung Namalso acts as an unofficial indicator of import demand due to its supply to sister company Nine Dragons Paper Industries, a high-volume supplier of containerboard for shipping to manufacturers inChina.