Many U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost to countries such as China and India.
However, American products remain much in demand around the world.
"A lot of our customers request that we put 'Made in the USA' on the product," said Todd Furbee, owner of Delta Pure Filtration, a Hanover County manufacturer.
Furbee and other Virginia manufacturers have benefitted from a wide range of federal, state and private agencies which provide help to exporters.
Exports make up at least 30 percent of Furbee's business. His filters go to such places as Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Ecuador, Pakistan and Caribbean islands. Many are used in desalination plants, which convert sea water to drinking water.
Combined exports from companies, such as Furbee's, in the Richmond area increased 21 percent to $4.53 billion between 2005 and 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce's latest full-year metro export report.
The Richmond figures reflect what's happening in the state as a whole, said Paul Grossman, director of international trade and investment at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
"Overall, exports from Virginia are up for the last four years," Grossman said. Exports rose 7 percent in 2004, 5 percent in 2005, 15 percent in 2006 and 19 percent in 2007.
He attributed the increase, in part, to the weakening dollar, which makes U.S. goods more affordable to foreign buyers. Free-trade agreements also have made trade easier.
But the momentum of a 50-year upward trend in international trade is the underlying reason behind recent export increases, Grossman said.
The portion of U.S. gross domestic product devoted to international trade was 6 percent right after World War II but is now 26 percent.
"The largest importing country in the world is the United States, but what [people] don't realize is the largest exporting country in the world is the United States." he said. "Demand for American products has always been good."
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For those who want to get in on the exporting boom, there is lots of help available.
"Virginia companies are blessed they have a lot of [export] resources they can turn to," said Eric McDonald, who heads the Richmond office of U.S. Commercial Service, which is a part of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration.
The state's economic development partnership, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Richmond Export Import Club are among other federal, state and private sources of assistance for those seeking foreign markets for their goods.
McDonald's agency helps businesses with market research and trade promotion overseas through activities such as foreign trade shows. It also works with businesses obtaining export licenses for their products, if they are required, and with arrangements in getting a product overseas, including how payment for the goods will be made.
Tracy Young, president of Epic International Inc., another Hanover exporter, has worked with the Commercial Service.
One thing the service can do for a company is provide raw information. "If you've got a potential customer in a country, you can get real good data real fast," he said.
Epic sells pumps and steel, floating mixers and aeration equipment for public and industrial wastewater-treatment plants. Epic has been exporting since the company was founded 22 years ago, Young said.
He said that when he started the business, he went looking for orders wherever he could get them. "I knew there was a big world out there and business out there to get," he said.
Roughly two-thirds of Epic's business is international, either export or import. A fourth of Epic's sales come from the export of the aerators it designs and has built by a Hanover fabricator.
The import of screw-type pumps from Landustrie, a business partner in Holland, accounts for the rest of Epic's international business. Working with Landustrie, Young said, Epic has sold its products in Argentina, Poland, Ireland and Singapore.
With a good customer overseas, exporting is not any riskier than selling domestically and perhaps less so, Young said.
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The commercial sections of U.S. embassies can be a valuable resource for an exporter, Young said. But some services, such as provision of a part-time secretary abroad, come with a cost.
Embassies can arrange translation services and can counsel businesspeople to avoid a cultural faux pas, such as the time Young threw the American "A-OK" sign in Brazil and found out too late it was vulgarity there.
Young said the state economic development partnership's periodic seminars for foreign companies seeking U.S. suppliers is a good service. "One of the reasons they are so good is the counterpart you are talking to is already interested . . . or otherwise they wouldn't be here," he said.
Export Virginia, the part of the partnership headed by Grossman, also offers two major educational programs to help exporters: the Virginia Leaders in Export Trade, or VALET program, and the Accessing International Markets, or AIM program.
The VALET program has graduated 50 companies since 2002 and currently has enrolled 31 participating companies, which must be dedicated to expansion through exporting. Among the program's benefits are up to $10,000 in funding toward export-related expenses and free professional services from the program's private-sector partners.
AIM is a competitive-entry program that annually accepts 20 applicants, including novices to exporting. It focuses on exporting with the lowest risk and greatest returns.
Delta Pure's Furbee joined the AIM program in December. To get in, he had to agree to attend quarterly exporting seminars and to visit his target-market country before graduation. Furbee's target is Canada.
Canada is year after year Virginia's top export destination. In 2006, the state exported goods worth $2.6 billion to Canada.
Preliminary reports show that Canada could be a huge market for Delta Pure's products, Furbee said. "I'm trying to grow the business, and the export market is one of the better growth areas." Contact Greg Edwards at (804) 649-6390 or gedwards@timesdispatch.com.
