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Are You Ready to Export?
Does your company
have an international marketing plan with defined goals and strategies?
Does your company have adequate knowledge in shipping its products overseas, or packaging the products to meet foreign import regulations?
If you can answer
yes to these questions, your company may be ready to export.
The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) has prepared an interactive self-evaluation program for exporters to use to determine how ready they are to export, or if they are already exporting, to identify information to help them export more effectively. The evaluation form is available on the World Wide Web at the FAS home page at http://www.fas.usda.gov/agexport/exporttest.asp
The evaluation covers a
range of exporting issues including financing, marketing, production and shipping.
"Are You Ready To Export?" is part of a new Exporter Assistance section within the FAS home page to help prepare farmers, farm cooperators, and small- and new-to-exporting U.S. businesses.
"Exporting is vital to the health of agriculture," said Secretary Dan Glickman. "The United States has an abundance of high-quality food and food products, but many exporters shy away from the effort because of a lack of practical, how information."
The Exporter Assistance site provides links to information on market research, export programs, import requirements, export certifications and export education and seminars, and it provides state and industry contacts.
The site serves as a central clearinghouse of exporter and importer information, providing links to other USDA and Federal agencies, including the Agricultural Marketing Service, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Department of Commerce and Small Business Administration.
Potential exporters can log on to the site at http://www.fas.usda.gov/exporter.html
| Are You Ready To Export? | |
| Exporting has become a lucrative activity for many U.S. companies, but all of them began by making the critical decisions necessary to expand their market outside the United States. The following brief questionnaire can help you make those fundamental decisions, or if you’re already exporting, to help you identify additional information so you may export more effectively. | This questionnaire highlights characteristics common to successful
exporters. Many of these questions will guide you into areas of the FAS home page where
you can obtain more information on food exporting. Your score will help you to assess your
export readiness, as well as to identify areas your business needs to strengthen to
improve its export activities. |
My company has a product which has been successfully sold in the domestic
market. Yes No |
My company is committed to providing the same level of service given to
our domestic customers.Yes No |
| My company has or is preparing an international marketing plan with
defined goals and strategies.Yes No |
My company has adequate knowledge in modifying product packaging and
ingredients to meet foreign import regulations, food safety standards and cultural
preferences. Yes No |
| My company has sufficient production capacity that can be committed to
the export market.Yes No |
My company has adequate knowledge in shipping its product overseas, such
as identifying and selecting international freight forwarders, temperature management and
freight costing.Yes No |
| My company has the financial resources to actively support the marketing
of our products in the targeted overseas markets.Yes No |
My company has adequate knowledge of export payment mechanisms, such as
developing and negotiating letters of credits.Yes No |
| My company is committed to developing export markets and is also willing
and able to dedicate staff, time and resources to the process.Yes No |
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