Welcome to the first edition of NCDA&CS’s International Marketing newsletter!

Welcome to the first edition of NCDA&CS’s International Marketing newsletter!

Spring 2009

My name is Tony Gunter. I am the Forest Products International trade specialist with the NCDA&CS working in the international marketing section of the department and now the editor of “international’s” new newsletter.

Our first recipients (a.k.a. “victims”) of this newsletter are strictly in house here at NCDA&CS. We are on the learning curve of some new software to help us produce and publish this new newsletter through the department’s web site. We are enlisting your input and help in ironing out some wrinkles we may have with the publication. We will publish a couple of in house runs before we distribute it to North Carolina companies and other places. This also gives us a unique opportunity to introduce our office to our own agency personnel and what we try to accomplish with NC’s products in overseas markets. If you find any dead hyperlinks or any other errors or general mayhem, or have a constructive comment to help us make this a better publication, please let me know.

Tony Gunter

tony.gunter@ncarg.gov

From the Crew

Got to be NC Exports

Peter Thornton – Assistant Director of Marketing

International Marketing’s first and foremost message is that our agribusinesses are blessed to be in North Carolina. The network of resources available to NC Agribusinesses is the most extensive you can find in the US, probably the world. Resources include international staff, market research, training, financial support, certification resources and general exporting support. We cover those subjects in detail at our website, www.ncagexports.com . Companies that export or are just curious about exports can find an extensive network of free support with just the click of a mouse or at 919-733-7912.

Peter Thornton

Phone: 919-733-7912 Ext. 248

E- mail: peter.thornton@ncagr.gov

Hasta la Salsa Siempre

Nathan Holleman – International Trade Specialist

NC Sweet Potatoes to be exhibited at the Internorga Trade Exhibition in Hamburg, March 13-18, 2009. NCDA and the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission will jointly promote NC sweet potatoes at Internorga, the premier culinary and food service trade show held in Germany. Visitors from across Europe will be able to sample sweet potato dishes prepared on site at the show in the Commission/NCDA booth. Nathan Holleman of NCDA and Sue Langdon of the Commission will attend, in addition to at least one NC sweet potato company. For more information, contact Nathan Holleman.

Nathan Holleman

Phone: 919-733-7912, ext. 245

E-mail: Nathan.holleman@ncagr.gov

Woods it to ya?

Tony Gunter – Forest Products International Trade Specialist

Lack of consumer spending, and the housing/foreclosure/credit crisis, continues to negatively affect wood product producers of all types including exporters. Available inventories continue to build even as production levels continue to drop. This trend may be flattening out some of late. Often, this sector is one of the first to show growth after a turn around in the housing market. NCDA&CS, North Carolina Department of Commerce, and the Appalachian Regional Commission organized a pavilion for North Carolina hardwood producers to exhibit and sell their goods in a woodand furniture industry trade show in Guangzhou China at the end of March. The NC companies participating were able to meet new customers and generate leads that resulted in $500,000.00 USD in on the spot sales. Twelve month sales from this event were predicted to be $14 million USD by the participating companies. The Chinese market is second only to Canada in receiving U.S. wood product exports. They are expected to surpass Canada during the next economic growth period.

Tony Gunter

Phone: 919-733-7912 Ext. 244

E-mail: tony.gunter@ncagr.gov



North Carolina’s Export Stats

March 2009 NC Wood Exports.PDF

March 2009 NC AG Exports.PDF

Note: This information is reflective of export trends but does not reflect an accurate accounting of all of North Carolina’s agricultural export dollars. For example, much of the state’s wood products are shipped out through the ports of Charleston and Norfolk. Those exports tend to not be reported accurately in the state’s trade figures. This is true of other products as well.

Common Currencies Valued against the Dollar

The trend is down for the U.S. dollar against many major foreign currencies. This development is not generally good for consumers as this makes manufactured imported goods more expensive to purchase. For U.S. exporters this tends to generally be good news becasue a dropping dollar makes U.S. goods less expensive to overseas buyers, making our exports more competitive when judged against comparable foreign goods. It will take time to see what the new long term trend will be. Please see the hypermink below for more information and curent details.

Dollar weakness has legs, thanks to Fed
US gold rises as weaker dollar stirs fund buying



Currency Unit Units per USD USD per Unit

BRL 2.2104769833 0.4523910484

CAD 1.2276790676 0.8145451254

CNY 6.8273904555 0.1464688458

EUR 0.7649323230 1.3073051954

XAU 0.0011051698 904.8383441734

INR 49.9350704844 0.0200260056

JPY 97.9433735141 0.0102099812

MXN 13.2582430890 0.0754247749

GBP 0.6835005252 1.4630566665

VND 17,780.00 0.0000562430

Info valid on April 23rd, 2009

USD = U.S.A. Dollar, BRL = Brazilian Real, CAD = Canadian Dollar, CNY = Chinese Yuan Renminbi (RMB), EUR = Euro, XAU = Gold Ounces, INR = India Rupees, JPY = Japanese Yen, MXN = Mexican Peso, GBP = Great Britain Pound , VND = Vietnamese Dong

For more up to date international currency values: http://www.xe.com/ict/

International Trade Related News

This column will address some of the current events taking place on the international trade and business front. We will provide many links to timely articles relating to trade, business, currency, shipping, phytosanitary, and other issues that are important to North Carolina’s exports. We will also provide information about how some of these issues may affect or present new opportunities to the state’s agricultural exporters. For more NC international news please visit: http://ncagexports.blogspot.com/



Dubai and Gulf Food – Still Buying – NCDA International Blog

http://ncagexports.blogspot.com/2009/03/dubai-and-gulf-food-still-buying.html

Farm Pak NC Exporter of the Year – NCDA International Blog

http://ncagexports.blogspot.com/2009/02/farm-pak-exporter-of-year.html

NC Ports Announce Service to Central America – NCDA International Blog

http://ncagexports.blogspot.com/2009/02/nc-ports-announce-service-to-central.html

‘Buy American’ - Sparks fly - CNN

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/29/news/economy/buy_american/index.htm

Commodity Price Dive Hits Latin Economies - WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123430877724170335.html



USDA “GAIN Reports” of Interest

Philippines Annual Report

http://www.fas.usda.gov/scripts/gd.asp?ID=146327214

European Union -27 - Fruit & Vegetables: EU Marketing Standards

http://www.fas.usda.gov/scripts/gd.asp?ID=146327220

Japan - Japan Announces Fourth Peanut Product Recall

http://www.fas.usda.gov/scripts/gd.asp?ID=146327217

Russian Federation - Export Tariffs for Certain Types of Wood

http://www.fas.usda.gov/scripts/gd.asp?ID=146327131