It’s a small world after all for the 400 companies in Delaware that engage in international trade.
The weak dollar and stiff competition from domestic companies have made trade an increasingly attractive option for the state’s businesses, said Rebecca Faber, executive director of the World Trade Center Delaware in Wilmington.
The World Trade Center Delaware, a nonprofit membership organization that helps businesses trade, has seen its ranks double to 230 companies over the past 10 years, she said.
And those companies do big business in international trade -- exporting more than $3 billion worth of goods so far this year, according to the Delaware Office of Management and Budget.
Trade is often a way for local businesses to remain afloat during turbulent economic times, she said, because even if American consumers are pinching pennies, there is almost always a market for American goods in foreign countries.
Now is a particularly good time for local companies to export because the dollar is weak compared to foreign currencies like the euro, she said, which means it is cheaper for European customers to purchase American goods.
Importing cheaper foreign supplies is also a way for a company to reduce its expenses, which can help counteract high energy costs, she said.
The First State is a good state to trade from, Faber said, because of Delaware’s healthy business climate and the free trade zone at the Port of Wilmington, which reduces the costs of importing goods.
Delaware’s World Trade Center also makes the state a good place for trade because it acts as a resource for small companies without the expertise to export and import on their own, she said.
The World Trade Center has provided valuable trade information for Newark-based manufacturer Analtech, Inc., said Steven C. Miles, the company’s general manager of international sales.
Analtech produces thin layer chromatography plates, which are used by scientists to analyze liquids, and the company exports about 150,000 plates a year, Miles said.
Technology was the biggest factor that allowed Analtech to begin exporting, he said, and after the company created its Web site in 1995, their international sales began booming.
“We would probably have been pretty darn stagnant if we hadn’t started exporting,” he said.
The company has increased its sales by 15 percent because of exports, he said, and Analtech’s thin layer chromatography plates are used by researchers on every continent except Antarctica.
But international business is not without its own unique set of challenges, said Mary Ann Summers, international sales manager at Speakman Company in New Castle.
The company is famous for their Speakman showerheads, she said, but does the bulk of its international business selling emergency showers and eye wash stations for factories.
Speakman has been exporting for 60 years, but the September 11 attacks brought on a new era of increased restrictions that make international business more difficult, she said.
For example, the company used to export their products on wooden palettes, she said, but now uses plastic palettes because new trade regulations require all wood to be fumigated for infestations.
However, the benefits of trade far outweigh the frustrations, she said.
“Trade has opened us up to so many bigger markets and so many new opportunities,” she said.
Exciting opportunities abound in overseas markets, said Peter Martinez, president of the New Castle-based manufacturer, Kapejo, Inc.
Martinez’s company produces chemical fibers used to reinforce asphalt and, depending on economic fluctuations, as much as 20 percent of his revenue could be gathered through trade.
China is his biggest overseas market because of its insatiable appetite for construction, he said, and Kapejo products have been used in many Chinese road projects.
But paving the way into new markets is no easy task, he said, and a company must understand the culture of the countries it trades with to be successful. It’s important to build relationships and show customers they are not just export targets on a map, he said.
“It takes a lot of preparation, but once you get in, trade can be a very lucrative business,” Martinez said.
Click the map below to learn more about Delaware's role in world trade.
