Latin America Expected to Grow to $4.8 Trillion by 2015

Did you know?

•  Central and South America are home to 440 million people.  In 2010, it had a GDP of $3.6 trillion, projected to rise to $4.8 trillion by 2015. The region’s economy grew by around 6 percent in 2010, and is expected to grow 4 percent in 2011.

•  Exports to Central and South America are estimated to be $161 billion in 2010, supporting almost 900,000 U.S. jobs.

• 80 percent of U.S. consumer and industrial goods exports to the CAFTA-DR region and Peru are no longer subject to tariffs.

• The U.S. has an approximately 43% market share in the Dominican Republic, with approximately 70% of consumer goods imported into the Dominican republic coming from the United States.

•  U.S. exports to Chile – primarily manufacturing – were projected at $13 billion in 2009 

• U.S. Exports to Peru have Doubled Since Passage of the US-Peru FTA reaching over 6 billion in  purchases in 2010 alone.  

• USDA products exports to Peru reached an all time high of $760 million in 2010.

Trade Mining can help you grow your business in Latin America by:

• Giving you access to who is buying  and who is supplying

• Frequency of purchases 

• Providing insights on transactional trends

• Pinpointing the carriers that specialize in moving freight to  your target country

To request a no obligation sample of our Latin data send an email to: Get Latin Data or call 954-374-9049 for a faster response. 

Sources: The White House, U.S. Department of State, Export.gov

Thinking about importing?

According to SBA importing goods represent a significant market opportunity for savvy business owners with margins as high as 700%. 

Here are 6.5 tips that can help you save time and money.

1) Choose the Right Business Partner.   

You have a lot lose: TIME, MONEY, and your REPUTATION. There are many roads that you can select. At the preliminary stages you want to reach out to a foreign country trade offices, look at a few trade publications, search the web for manufacturer directories, attend trade shows and or hire a consultant if you have the budget and the funds to do so.  

1.5) If you are looking for ways to "minimize risk". It is essential that you do your due diligence in selecting  suppliers since this can affect your company finances and reputation. A subscription to  a database such as Trade Mining can help you find quickly and very affordably  the types of products that you want to buy and more importantly help you assess the trustworthiness of potential suppliers.

2) Familiarize Yourself  with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and The U.S. Trade Representative's Office (USTR) . The WTO is the governing body responsible for overseeing trade agreements relating to goods, services, and intellectual property. And the (USTR) is responsible for developing and coordinating trade matters with foreign countries.  These two organizations are a great resource on trade agreements and many other trade topics that may be applicable to your area of interest.

3) Get Acquainted with Currency Fluctuations. The relation between a product and money in any business transaction is the price of the goods. In the foreign exchange market the relation between one currency to another is the exchange rate. The law of supply and demand apply to foreign exchange rates just as any other commodity traded in the world therefore a lack of understanding of currency fluctuations can hamper your profitability.

4) Hire a Customs Attorney of Broker. All goods purchase abroad must be filed U.S. Custom Border Protection (CBP). A Customs broker or an attorney can be a great ally to your company, they can help you properly classify and assess the correct valuation of your imported merchandise and avoid you hefty fines. In the United States an importer can file an entry on their own, however for what it cost I would not consider doing business without a Customs broker. Here's a link containing a few tips from CBP

5) Paying For The Goods. The ideal payment method for a buyer is a consignment or an open account type of an arrangement, and the best payment method for a supplier is cash in advance. The middle grounds for both parties is the use of a letter of credit.(Seyoum 461)

6) The Role of Freight Forwarders. Once the transactions has been consummated between you and your supplier you have three choices to move your goods (inventory): air, water, land or a combination of these. If you are looking for economy and you do not have a sense of urgency to get your inventory your best bet is ocean shipping. Airfreight though more expensive can deliver advantages in the form of speed, reduce storage cost, and insurance cost (Seyoum 461). Hiring a freight forwarder can deliver your company an ROI and peace of mind. Freight forwarders can save you time and money in locating the best rates for your cargo, booking space with the air, ocean, and truck carriers, handling documentation, and the local transfer of goods to the port of loading.

Trade Mining provides Customs trade intelligence solutions that helps businesses engage more effectively  in global trade,  support decisions, and reach objectives. To learn more about us please visit  www.CustomsTradeData.com

10 Fundamental Points of International Trade

1) Buying and selling between nations, has been in existence since 2500 BC.

2)The governing body responsible for overseeing trade agreements relating to goods, services, and intellectual property is the World Trade Organization which came into existence in the 1986-1994 Uruguay Round (8th multilateral trade negotiations) held in Uruguay.

3) There are many international and regional trade agreements that have been formulated to liberalize trade between nations by eliminating tariffs, import quotas etc. If you have not done so already, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with these agreements. The U.S. Trade Representative's Office states: the United States takes part in 17 Free Trade Agreements i.e. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Australian FTA, CAFTA-DR (Dominican Republic-Central America FTA) among others.

4) According to the World Customs Organization the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System also known as "Harmonized System" or simply "HS" is a multipurpose international product nomenclature which comprises about 5,000 commodity groups; each identified by a six digit code. The system is used by more than 200 countries and over 98 % of the merchandise in international trade is classified in terms of the HS.

5) The relation between a product and money in any business transaction is the price of the goods. In the foreign exchange market the relation between one currency to another is the exchange rate. The law of supply and demand apply to foreign exchange rates just as any other commodity traded in the world therefore a lack of understanding of currency fluctuations can hamper your profitability (Seyoum 461).

6) Choosing the right business partner can be a risky undertaking. You have a lot lose: time, money, and your reputation. The best way to minimize risk in selecting suppliers and or overseas partners for your products is through the subscriptions of a database such as Trade Mining. These type of services can help you find quickly and economically the types of products that you want to sell and more importantly help you assess the trustworthiness of potential suppliers.

7) The ideal payment method for a buyer is a consignment or an open account type of an arrangement, and the best payment method for a supplier is cash in advance. The middle grounds for both parties is the use of a letter of credit.(Seyoum 461)

8 ) Once the transactions has been consummated between you and your supplier you have three choices to move your goods (inventory): air, water, land or a combination of these. If you are looking for economy and you do not have a sense of urgency to get your inventory your best bet is ocean shipping. Airfreight though more expensive can deliver advantages in the form of speed, reduce storage cost, and insurance cost (Seyoum 461). Hiring a freight forwarder can deliver your company an ROI and peace of mind. Freight forwarders can save you time and money in locating the best rates for your cargo, booking space with the air, ocean, and truck carriers, handling documentation, and the local transfer of goods to the port of loading.

9) All goods purchase abroad must be filed by the destination country Custom Authorities. If you are importing into the United States it is the U.S. Custom Border Protection (CBP). A Customs broker or an attorney can be a great ally to your company, they can help you properly classify and assess the correct valuation of your imported merchandise and avoid you hefty fines. In the United States an importer can file an entry on their own, however for what it cost I would not consider doing business without a Customs broker.

10) Many new importers lose money in their international purchases because they forget to take into account the total landed cost and all expenses associated with their transactions (Seyoum 461).

Trade Mining provides Customs trade intelligence solutions that helps businesses engage more effectively  in global trade,  support decisions, and reach objectives. To learn more about us please visit  www.CustomsTradeData.com

References:

Seyoum, Belay. Export-Import Theory, Practices, and Procedures. Binghamton, NY 13904: The Haworth Press, Inc, 2000. 461. Print.

United States Trade Representative /www.ustr.gov/trade> trade agreements
World Customs Organization /www.wcoomd.org> Harmonized System
World Trade Organization /www.wto.org> What is the WTO

Intellectual Property Rights Infringement on the Rise

The globalization of markets has made Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection challenging. IPRs according to Belay Seyoum are associated with patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and other protective devices granted by the state to facilitate industrial innovation and artistic creation.

Daily Finance reports that "U.S. companies lose at least hundreds of millions of dollars a year in sales from products that are counterfeited overseas and shipped to America." CNBC reports that "counterfeit goods make up about 7 percent of global trade." Although there are domestic laws and many international conventions in place the violation of IPRs are alive and well today. A clear example of this is U.S. Customs (CBP) fiscal year 2010 report on seizing over 19,000 goods that infringe Intellectual Property Rights. 

Here are a few additional highlights of the report:

• In the past decade seizures have increased 400%

• Footwear, consumer electronics, and wearing apparel are the top three seized commodities

• China, Hong Kong, and Jordan are the main sources of counterfeit goods

•  For more information see report: IPR-Fiscal Year 2010

U.S Customs (CBP) has also put together "Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement" guide that I have attached for your reference, which provide good insight on how you can have a more active role in protecting your IPR rights. A subscription to trade data can be also a great asset to your company in the battle against IPR violations.

Trade Mining LLC offers comprehensive solutions to the International trade community. We have a data warehouse which contains historical and current detailed U.S. waterborne trade information gathered from ocean bills of lading filed with U.S. Customs, which are cleansed, coded, standardized, validated , and available in real time, using our proprietary state-of-the-art technology. Trade Mining information is accessible on-line, in a customized hard copy report, and in a data file format.

To receive a complimentary trial subscription, a sample data file or a report please call me at 954-374-9049 or email nelson.fernandez@trademining.com