Commerce and WSDA help hundreds of small-and medium-sized businesses increase sales through exporting. Businesses receive assistance in selling internationally for the first time, opening additional foreign markets, introducing new products overseas, and in strategies to increase their export sales overall.
Commerce and WSDA also counsel companies, that are not yet ready to compete internationally, on what steps are required to enter an international market and achieve success over time.
In FY10, companies reported that Commerce helped them generate $58.2 million in export sales. Export sales following Commerce assistance included over $7.7 million in the aerospace sector, $5 million for clean technology companies, almost $5 million in the Information and Communication Technologies sector, and over $2 million for Life Science companies.
Commerce is moving forward on strategies to increase foreign trade in the next five years as part of the Washington State Export Initiative and the National Export Initiative, including implementing an MOU on cooperation with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the first U.S. state to officially declare its prioritization of the NEI.
, · In FY10, firms receiving assistance from WSDA reported $95.8 million in export sales. The return on state's investment (ROI) in the International Marketing Program remains strong. In FY10, the state's general fund received $3.86 for every dollar invested.
WSDA's International Marketing Program is planning several new initiatives to increase export sales to achieve the goals set forth by the National and Washington State export initiatives. By utilizing federal programs including Specialty Crop Grants, Market Access Program (MAP) and other federal funding sources, WSDA will conduct commodity-focused trade missions, inbound buying missions from around the world, and joint export training with the Department of Commerce using CERB (Community Economic Revitalization Board) funding.
Up Updated 10/5/2010