Banks in South Florida are exporting more commercial credit to business borrowers abroad as the area’s international trade expands.

“We’ll grow 10, 15 percent this year,” Espirito Santo Bank president Mark North said of the Miami bank’s portfolio of commercial and industrial loans to foreign creditors. Many are Latin American businesses that borrow to buy not only U.S. tools and machines but also such basic commodities as cardboard, corn, cotton, even rocks.