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News
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Oregon agriculture looks at new international markets
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4/13/2011
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Article Content Suggested lead
Oregon agriculture is looking at new emerging export markets while maintaining strong relations with longstanding customers. For now, India and Southeast Asia are getting close attention:
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China, Japan, and South Korea continue to be among the top export markets for Oregon agriculture. But the Oregon Department of Agriculture is looking at a couple new spots with great potential. International trade manager Amanda Welker says India, with a population of nearly 1.2 billion people, is a market with a growing middle class:
WELKER: "The good thing about going to India is there is no language barrier. Everyone speaks English. Number two is that, we have the highest percentage of college folks in the United States from India than anywhere else in the world. So they are coming here to college. Whether they are able to stay here or they have to go back to India, they are bringing back those American tastes." :19
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India is most interested in fresh fruits at this time. ODA has conducted a couple of trade missions to India and has brought Indian buyers to Oregon for a closer look at what is grown here. Another emerging market is Southeast Asia, specifically Vietnam, which is also looking at fruits and nuts, as well as a mainstay commodity:
WELKER: "There's some strong interest in dairy. We have traditionally shipped some ingredient products like whey and powdered milk, but we are also seeing an increased interest in cheese from almost all of Asia." :13
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If all goes according to plan this year, buyers from Vietnam will be part of an inbound trade mission to Oregon, but ODA may be conducting its first ever trade mission to Vietnam. In Salem, I'm Bruce Pokarney.
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WELKER says ODA hasn't done much in Vietnam to date, but that's about to change as the Southeast Asia country is now on the radar:
"Strategically, we are in a good location as far as the Pacific Rim. We see that as an opportunity and we are going to be doing a couple of inbound missions- bringing buyers here to Oregon- then also taking an outbound trade mission to Vietnam, Singapore, maybe into Indonesia." :17
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GARY ROTH, administrator of ODA's Agricultural Development and Marketing Division, says while keeping an eye on new potential markets, Oregon continues to pay attention to longstanding trade partners in Asia, specifically South Korea:
"South Korea is a fantastic customer of Oregon agricultural products. But the free trade agreement would be a real game changer across many sectors. We are almost frothy at the thought and the opportunity of what Oregon agriculture could do there." :16
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Full story
http://oregon.gov/ODA/news/110413export.shtml |
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