Also in this issue: IPR Issues Remain Barriers for Small Companies Heartland Exports Continue Growing Faster Breaking International News

International Business NewsMay/June, 2013

TANK Connection a manufacturer and exporter of liquid and dry bulk storage facili-ties was one of 7 Excellence in Export “E” Award winners from the Heartland.

U.S. Acting Secretary of Commerce, Rebecca Blank, cited Held & Associates for its excellence in export service for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports in May ceremonies in Washington, D.C.

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Susan and Rick Held receiving the Excellence in Export Service Award from Secretary Blank

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May-June 2013 page 2

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TOC / Foreign Trade Zone, Inc. Seven Excellence In Exports Award Winners

Heartland Trade Index/ Asia Today Transimpex The Case For IPR Protection

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About IBNews/ 10 Proven Tips for Int’l Sales

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IBNewsmag TM: in this issue

COVER STORY This issue salutes winners of the Presi-dent’s 2013 Excellence in Exports Awards from the Heart-land, including a Service winner, Held & Associates.

See page 4.

International Business News

page 3 May-June 2013page 3 March 2013

ach year, The U.S. Sec-retary of Commerce

awards those American com-panies that make the most significant contribution to the growth of U.S. Exports.

Typically shortened to the “E” Award, it signifies excellence in export sales. Rep-resenting superior exporting companies from the Heartland, seven received the exemplary award in May at the U.S. Department of Commerce building in Washington, DC.

They include: Tank Connection, Par-sons, Kansas; Held & Associates (Ser-vice), Kansas City, Missouri; Savillex Corporation, Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Roll-A-Ramp, West Fargo, North Da-kota; AmCom Software, Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Holmes Corporation, Ea-gan, Minnesota; and Nexans AmerCa-ble, El Dorado, Arkansas.

Tank Connection (TC) Affiliate Group is a major manufacturer and sup-plier of liquid and bulk storage tanks and related products worldwide. “Identifying qualified distributors in other parts of the world is one of our biggest challenges and reasons for our expanding export sales,” said John Haight, International Sales Manager for Tank Connection. “We es-sentially ship pieces in boxes and it’s up to them to take it from there and get it built.”

But, before a tank system is built – espe-cially in Europe - TC must engage local municipalities to win certification for its products. “Because in many cases, cer-tification requires both municipal and private investor approvals,” replied Mr. Haight, “We have to overcome bureau-cratic and language barriers which can take several months to negotiate.”

Case in point: TC distributor construc-tion crews battled through the mighty trade winds of Aruba and local govern-ment to successfully construct a Barge-to-Truck transloading terminal with a 133 ft. tall bolted cement storage silo at the Barcadera port. This installation enabled delivery of cement in bulk versus bagged product, giving Aruba easier access to the needed cement. Not only building the structure, but the company also designed, supplied and installed a pneumatic con-veying piping and unloading system. See more of the company and its products: www.tankconnection.com.

Claiming a service “E” award is Held & Associates, a 32-year old freight forwarder, export counseling, strategic planning, consolidation, export packing and cargo insurance firm which has been responsible for millions of dollars of ex-ported goods.

“Exporting is crucial to the success of the companies we serve,” said Rick Held, President and CEO of the firm. “Every day we see the growth our clients achieve through exporting,” he said. “Growth that has enabled our clients to add jobs and support their communities as they grow their bottom line.”

In addition to helping clients, such as Tank Connection and Roll-A-Ramp, ex-port its products, Mr. Held is an active participant in the international com-munity, having served twice as president of the International Trade Council of Greater Kansas City, and as a member of the Mid-America District Export Coun-cil and K.C. World Trade Center. Learn more about the firm by visiting its web-site at www.held-assoc.com.

Savillex manufactures laboratory prod-ucts from fluoropolymers resins. Products made from these resins provide scientists the ability to meet the most critical appli-cations when purity and or inertness are required. Savillex products may be found in “Trace Metal” labs around the world where scientist are looking to identify certain elements at a PPT (parts per tril-lion) level. Savillex sells through a world-wide network of specialized distributors. Many of the distributors are former sci-entists themselves. This helps in working with the customer making sure they are using the right products for their applica-tion.

E

Tank Connection’s dry bulk storage facility in Aruba

President’s Excellence in Exports Award Goes to Seven Outstanding Export Companies in the Heartland

IBNewsmag TM

May-June 2013 page 4

IBNewsmag

“Over the past ten years the company has increased revenue more than four times,” said Terry Nagel, Savillex President. “The driving forces behind this growth are not only the authorized distributors but a stream of new products that have success-fully met the needs of the market and its customers.”

Today more than a third of Savillex an-nual revenues are sold outside the United States. This past year over 50 countries purchased products from Savillex. Some of the largest markets outside of the Unit-ed States for the company’s products are: China, Japan, Korea, Germany, United Kingdom and Canada.

The Savillex name is ubiquitous in the geochemistry, environmental and semi-conductor markets. “On a number of occasions customers have commented that their markets would not be where they are today without Savillex products to support them,” said Mike Osgar, Vice President. Learn more about Savillex by visiting its website: www.savillex.com.

Roll-A-Ramp manufactures and markets a line of ramps and accessories for disability access to homes, buildings and vehicles. Made from aircraft type aluminum, these “Made in the USA” ramps are sturdy yet lightweight. Roll-A-Ramps roll up and the unique design allows length to be added or removed to

meet customer demands for its world-wide buyers.

The company’s Global marketing team of Jennifer Miller and Greg Moll explained that its export sales’ return on investment took seven years to accomplish, and now accounts for some 54 – 57% of company sales.

“We began the export process back in 2001 at a domestic trade show where a distributor from the UK took a liking to our ramps,” said Mr. Moll. “The problem was that we agreed to a master distribu-torship with them to cover all 56 Europe-

an countries. When we saw that we only had a one percent sales growth in three years, we realized we needed distributors in each country,” he explained.

Through trade missions and Commercial Service Gold Key sessions, along with more participation in trade shows, Roll-A-Ramp identified qualified distributors. “China is one of the few countries we are not selling,” said Mr. Moll. “We would be overwhelmed with product to meet demand there, and our ramp technology would soon be copied.” Roll-A-Ramp does not patent its products in other countries, but instead relies on its supe-rior engineering to protect its markets despite its higher prices.

Most of its now successful export sales are used for better access to public build-ings. In some countries, such as Malta, the ramps are installed to 5,000 year-old buildings, and used to access mile-deep catacombs. They also adorn Buckingham Palace for both outside and inside ac-cess. “They are truly portable,” noted Ms. Miller, “but they can easily become per-manent fixtures for museums and cathe-drals throughout the world. “ See more ramps at: www.rollaramp.com.

Terry Nagel (l) Savillex President, and Mike Osgar, Vice President, with the highly successful DST-1000 Acid Purification System exported worldwide.

Roll-A-Ramp International Sales Manager, Greg Moll (r), and the company’s exclusive German distribu-tor, Josef Lasek, discuss Mr. Lasek’s warehouse in Cologne, that services all of the EU.

page 5 May-June 2013

Heartland exports stepped up their growth in May. Imports continued growth, just not as fast, according to the latest survey of purchasing managers in the Midwest.

New export orders rose to 55.9 in May, up over a percentage point from the 54.5

figure in April. Imports slipped back nearly five percentage points, down to 53.5 from April’s 58.4.

“The new export order reading rose to its highest level since October of last year” said Ernie Goss, Ph.D., MacAllis-ter Chair & Professor of Economics at Creighton University.

IBNewsMag Editor, Fred Baehner said, “This export uptick happened despite the slight rise in the value of the dollar versus other major currencies at that time.”

Nationally, new export orders grew slow-er at a reading of 51.0, slipping three per-centage points from the April reading of 54.0. Imports grew more slowly to 54.5, down from the April level of 55.0

IBN

Creighton University’s Professor Ernie Goss

May Exports Continue Vigorous Growth in the Heartland.

The Heartland International Trade Index is an exclusive to IBNewsmag, and is a leading eco-nomic indicator measuring monthly changes in new export orders and imports for the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North & South Dakota.

Welcoming our 30th year . . . OVER 30 years, Asia Today International magazine has established itself firmly as the mostauthoritative business journal reporting on Asia from Australia – a first reference source for both internationalcorporations and SMEs trading, investing and providing services to business in Asia. We look forward, assessing issues with potential to impact on existing and future business, drawinginput from business and government leaders in Asia and across the world. We identify social and political change likely to impact on existing business – or to create new business opportunities. We remain committed to excellence in reporting the business that matters in Asia.

To join our subscriber lists, visit www.asiatodayinternational.com

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HEARTLANDEXPORTS

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May-June 2013 page 6

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Intellectual Property Protection Barriers Sting SME Exporters

ypically, small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) exporters refer to Chinese companies when cit-

ing intellectual property rights (IPR) vio-lations.

Looming larger on the agenda, primarily because it is thought of as an easily acces-sible large market, is Brazil. Brazil offers up many barriers to Heartland exporters, including high tariffs, taxes and other re-quirements. In fact, there is a great deal of talk of forcing congress to remove Bra-zil’s Generalized Systems of Preferences (GSP) status.

For years, Brazil has imposed extremely high tariffs and taxes on American ex-ports. Additionally, the country has been cited for various acts of IPR piracy. To top it off, Brazil is no longer one of those undeveloped countries in need of Ameri-can stimulus.

One of its newest wrinkles is the adop-tion of mandatory annual renewal of

pending patents with designated annual renewal fees. “While it’s not unusual for foreign coun-tries to impose renewal fees on issued patents,” said Candace Chen, founder of FaceLube.com in Los Angeles, “Bra-zil imposes fees on pending patents that are still awaiting examination. SMEs like ours are forced to pay fees for years just to keep the application in queue with no guarantees of issuance, nor refunds of-fered. “

Fees like these cost SMEs hundreds of dollars per year, per application, render-ing IPR in Brazil cost prohibitive when combined with legal fees to monitor the application process.

FaceLube.com markets a line of eco-friendly men’s grooming, anti-aging skin care, men’s face creams and anti-aging shaving kits. These products, derived from auto synthetic lube products, are highly guarded by pending patents and

sensitive to IPR protection in other countries. Ms. Chen explained that they do not contain parabens, sulfates, dyes/fragrances, silicones or oxybensones. “It’s our proprietary ingredients we seek to protect, along with the method of appli-cation to the skin, if and when we ever decide to export to Brazil.” she claimed.

These application “maintenance” fees are essentially taxes. And many SME export-ers simply cannot afford IPR protection in country after country. To increase ex-ports, SMEs require a predictable busi-ness environment in terms of legal and regulatory frameworks to support inno-vation and expand offshore sales. Since mostly unaffordable, SMEs look to the U.S. government to help protect and en-force their patents.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was an attempt by governments of sev-eral countries to help protect and enforce patents and trademarks. The drawback to the PCT filing is that the application still needs to be filed and prosecuted individ-ually in each member country. According to some SMEs interviewed, many econo-mies have yet to update their patent laws to recognize “knowledge-based” inven-tions and patent applications.

There have been suggestions that U.S. embassies take a proactive and hands-on approach to help American SMEs protect their IPR by monitoring status of IPR protection in each country. This could take several paths. One more prominent-ly mentioned is to station IPR attaches at our embassies, working closely with the commercial sections in the embassies to help diffuse infringement activity at early stages. IBN

IBNewsmag TM

May-June 2013 page 8

*IATA Code: MCI

Kansas City International Airport (KCI*) is one of the most convenient commercial airports

in the world. In 2012, 10 million passengers enjoyed its easy terminal access. More than 95,000

tons of air cargo was handled along “cargo row” with direct airfield access. Ten passenger

airlines offer nearly 200 daily departures, with nonstop service to 40 destinations. All cargo

carriers offer four daily departures, and operate an extensive Road Feeder Service network.

Beyond the terminals, there are 7,000 acres of land available for development surrounding the

airport. KCI has become a prime opportunity for developers, manufacturers, shippers and

freight forwarders looking to expand their businesses.

The Ambassador Building at KCI offers Class A office space for $15 per square foot. CBRE/Trammell

Crow is developing the KCI Intermodal BusinessCentre, featuring build-to-suit flex buildings

combining low-cost, on-airport sites with easy access to four major Interstate highways, an

expansive cargo-handling infrastructure and one of the nation’s largest Foreign Trade Zones.

KCI is the smart choice for passengers, cargo and commerce alike.

KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

U.S. CUSTOMS TO ENFORCE IMPORTER SECURITY FILING — Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin enforcement of the Importer Security Filing 10+2 (ISF) beginning 9 July, three years after the regulation was announced. Non-com-pliance can result in heavy-duty fines and issu-ing of liquidated damages against importers and carriers if not completed 24 hours prior to sail-ing. Check with your custom broker for details, or contact Pat Ramsey, pat@held-assoc.com, tel 816-842-6701, www.held-assoc.com.

GUATEMALA SEES THREAT IN TPP — The negotiation of an agreement between the U.S. and the Trans-Pacific Partner-ship (TPP) would enable the U.S. to purchase cheaper textiles from Vietnam, which would disadvantage Central American companies.

STEAMSHIP LINES SEE CHEAP-ER RATES THROUGH SUEZ — It’s looking as though the newly renovated Pan-ama Canal may lose some of the mega-ships to routes from the East coast via the Suez to Asia due to higher Panama slotting rates.

THE IOWA ECONOMIC DEVEL-OPMENT AUTHORITY (IEDA) OPENS OFFICE IN TAIWAN — The IEDA has contracted with PRA Global Business Development (PRA Global) to repre-sent Iowa and assist companies develop or ex-pand their markets in Taiwan. For more infor-mation contact Joseph Rude at 515.725.3023, or joseph.rude@iowa.gov.

SEVEN COMPANIES EARN PRESIDENT’S E. AWARD FROM THE HEARTLAND — Winners are Savillex, Holmes and AmCom from Minnesota; Nexans AmerCable from Arkansas; Tank Con-nection from Kansas; Roll-A-Ramp from North Dakota; and Held & Associates from Missouri. See more about these companies on page 4 of this issue.

CHINA - UNDERSTANDING THE CCC MARK CERTIFICA-TION PROCESS — If your company is selling or plans to sell its products – especially IT and machinery equipment - in China, then this TUV SUD America one-hour overview we-binar briefing presents an overview of the CCC Mark, product categories and an understanding of the submittal/approvals process. Email vazi-mi@tuvam.com for information.

COSTA RICA CONSIDERS OF-FICIAL DOLLARIZATION — The Elsalvador.com reports that “many government economists advocate keeping their local cur-rency because they believe that inflation will remain low, but an El Salvadoran economist, Manuel Hinds, explained that the opposite hap-pens. In the region, El Salvador, and Panama, which are dollarized, have the lowest inflation rates while countries like Argentina and Venezu-ela have an inflation rate of more than two digits (25 and 10% respectively) while last year, infla-tion in El Salvador was only 0.8%. “The expec-tation in the financial sector is that by keeping the local currency interest rates will be lower, but International Monetary Fund data indicates that they are higher in countries with monetary policy.” Honduras, for example, had a real lend-ing rate of 11.3% in February of this year, while in El Salvador it was only 3.8%.” According to the economist, “interest rates in a country’s own currency are more variable”.

DANUBE FLOODING RE-STRICTS POSTAL SERVICE — Access Worldwide Global reports that severe flooding in the Germany, Austria, Czech region has affected not only postal deliveries, but other forms of transport due to heavy rains and mud-slides since the beginning of June. Expected de-lays are expected until further notice.

IBNewsmag TM

May-June 2013 page 10

International Business News

page 11 May-June 2013

ABOUTIBNewsmag TM

Now in its 9th year of publishing by InterMark3, inc., IBNewsmag is an independent online magazine for entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to keep them current on compel-ling developments affecting exports and other international business developments. In keeping with our conversion to an e-magazine, we’ve modified our name from IBNews to IBNewsmag.

In each edition, and on our website – www.IBNewsMag.com –we’ll bring you the latest trends in new export orders and imports. Our exclusive Heartland Trade Index is the only real-time, leading economic indicator of monthly changes in exports and imports for the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebras-ka, Oklahoma, North & South Dakota.

In God we trust!

FOR EDITORIAL SUGGESTIONS, E-MAIL:

fbaehner@intermark3.comTel 816.210.8320Fax 816.472.0959

6655 Troost Ave.,Kansas City, MO 64131, USA

PUBLISHER/EDITOR:Frederick Baehner

EDITORIAL ADVISORS: Jo Anna Edgerton, Paul Mastilak

DESIGN: Tom Gilland,

www.GillandGraphx.com

Frederick Baehner

Last Fall, IBN conducted focus groups and a survey of entrepreneur-ial small companies. The most important outcome was the lack of knowledge and resources available to help them export. As a result, we’ve developed a 10-Step checklist to help new-to-export companies through the process of success-filled exporting.

You can request your FREE copy of our 10 Steps by emailing info@intermark3.com

business graphicsFor your customer demographics

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Visit: www.GillandGraphx.comBetter yet, call Tom Gilland at 816 • 204 • 7320 for references and FREE estimate.

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