Trade Programs Open New Doors for San Diego Area Companies
In the past five years, the usually tight-fisted Gov. George Deukmejian has increased state spending on world trade promotion 20 times over, from about $500,000 to more than $10 million a year.
Several San Diego County companies have used the state’s new programs to begin or expand overseas business activity. Some examples:
G.W.R. Instruments of Sorrento Valley, which manufactures a superconducting gravity meter, took advantage of the state’s Export Finance Program, which guarantees loans to G.W.R. that generated more than $1 million in business with Japan, where the firm’s products will be used in new efforts to predict earthquakes.
“We had letters of credit from customers for orders of more than $300,000, and we couldn’t take those to the banks and borrow money,” said Richard Reineman, a company partner. “We had tons of business and no way to finance it. Now we’ve finally had our chance to really bust it open and we’re over $1 million for the first time.”
Personal Computer Products Inc. of Rancho Bernardo used state assistance to arrange a booth at the Systems trade show in Munich. The state bought a large booth and divided it up among smaller companies, providing assistance in shipping PCPI’s display to Germany and an interpreter at the show.
“All we had to do was show up and man the booth,” said Bob Preston, the firm’s manager of national and international sales. The company sells personal computers and laser printers for desk-top publishing, and the Munich show was the company’s first effort to market its products abroad. Without the state’s help, he said, the company would probably not have attended.
“We got a lot of leads indirectly from the show, we were able to get a distributor recruited and formalized, and we are already starting to move the product,” Preston said.
San Diego County avocado growers, who produce about 40% of the state’s crop, participated through the California Avocado Commission in the state’s largest export promotion program: a $5 million a year effort to provide matching grants to help growers market their produce in other countries.
The Avocado Commission invested $20,000 from growers and received a grant for the same amount from the state for an effort to expand the Canadian market for the fruit that has become almost a California trademark. The commission used co-op advertising with Canadian supermarkets and in-store displays to entice new customers.
The result: California avocado sales to Canada increased from 5-million pounds in 1986 to 13-million pounds in 1987. Even though 1987 was a bumper crop year for avocados, the 160% jump in Canadian sales far outpaced the 69% increase in the California crop yields overall.
