DED, local chamber focus on Mexican trade opportunities

Nies got a taste of market potential south of the border May 21 at the Missouri Department of Economic Development’s “Show Me Mexico” program at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

International trade specialists from Missouri trade and investment offices in Monterrey and Guadalajara, Mexico, laid out key statistics on Mexico’s population, industry focuses and, most important, how Missouri Economic Development staff can help local firms build business relationships abroad.

The program was presented as part of the Springfield chamber’s enhanced international focus.

“We’ve been pretty active (in) international relations over the last three or four years, but we’ve really expanded that this year by creating an International Business Council,” said Chamber Executive Vice President Brad Bodenhausen. The council’s goals are first and foremost “to reach companies that aren’t doing business internationally but have the interest and the potential to do so,” he said, connecting them with local, state and national trade assistance resources, and informing them about opportunities in specific countries.

The chamber also is putting a spotlight on companies already active internationally – such as Butler, Rosenbury & Partners and SRC Holdings – as models for other firms to follow.

“Right now, with the U.S. dollar weak, it’s a great opportunity on the export side to expand markets and find other parts of the world that might have an interest in products and services made here,” Bodenhausen added.

Entering the export business

At a time when most U.S. sewing operations have vanished with the apparel industry’s shift to overseas manufacturing, Nies’ PamLyn Enterprises has created its own niche in the medical products industry.

PamLyn began producing custom medical pouches – designed to hold patients’ telemetry equipment – for St. John’s hospital in Springfield 23 years ago. That product formed the basis of the Kangaroo Medical Products line, providing clients such as Mt. Sinai Medical Center and New York University with disposable fabric pouches for telemetry devices and infusion therapy.

Now, Nies’ small company – she employs four – is seeing interest in Kangaroo Medical Products from Canadian hospitals, while a new product line, Flax Organics, also is garnering international interest.

Flax Organics, a line of 100 percent certified organic hot/cold packs, debuted at the international All Things Organic Trade Show in Chicago in April. Nies’ appearance at the show, sponsored by the Missouri Department of Agriculture, generated interest in Flax Organics from businesses in Canada and Argentina.

“It actually was an international show, because they had products from Italy, Russia, too many countries to even name. It was really wonderful. It was the first opportunity that I had to be able to be a vendor in that extensive venue,” Nies said.

Nies knew that Canada was an international market she definitely wanted to enter, so she contacted Mark Wine, the DED’s international trade manager for Mexico, Latin America and Canada. She told him about her interest in Canada, and he encouraged her to pursue it – but also to consider other options, hence her attendance at Show Me Mexico.

Show Me Mexico

Missouri international trade specialists Todd C. Nelson led off the May 21 program with an overview of Missouri’s Mexico Trade and Investment offices. Unlike many states, Missouri does not concentrate its resources in a single location, such as Mexico City, but has personnel stationed in three regional offices encompassing the country’s major markets, including Nelson in Monterrey and fellow presenter Gabriela Moran in Guadalajara.

While trade promotion – getting Missouri products into international markets – is a major emphasis of the state, Missouri also wants to bring Mexican investment dollars north of the border. In fact, Mexico is now one of the top 10 countries for inbound investment in the United States, Nelson said. While foreign direct investment from Mexico was almost unheard of three to four years ago, now it’s a coming thing, Nelson reported.

Mexico’s production is dominated by Mexican subsidiaries of foreign companies, such as General Motors, Hewlett Packard and Nissan, but native Mexican firms like Grupo Bimbo, Mexico’s dominant bakery, are interested in serving the U.S. Hispanic market via operations in this country.

For those who want to pursue trade with Mexico, Missouri Economic Development staff can not only help identify potential markets, clients, vendors and distributors, but also will pick up Missouri businesspeople at the airport and show them around, facilitate meetings and introductions, and provide translation services, said Moran, the trade specialist from Guadalajara.

She noted that in Guadalajara, in particular, there is rising demand for major construction and landscaping services in anticipation of the Pan-American Games’ being held there in 2011, and Missouri architectural firm HOK, based in St. Louis, already is involved in a major stadium project.

Proximity to the United States, a stable peso, rising transportation costs and intellectual property concerns also are causing companies that moved production from Mexico to Asia in recent years to return to Mexico, creating opportunities for U.S. suppliers to revive relationships south of the border.

Bodenhausen said many positive comments followed the Show Me Mexico program, and Nies was among those who felt the time was well spent.

Nies is working on a letter of export to Canada, and she is getting help from the state to address essential issues such as obtaining a harmonization code for her products.