EDA Office of Foreign Trade • Riverside County, California • USA
August 2012
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O
ne of the common themes that
has emerged since we began this
magazine earlier this year is the
high regard that customers outside
the U.S. have for American-made
products – and the opportunity that
presents for business owners and
manufacturers in Riverside County.
This month, we feature three
companies that are taking that well-
deserved reputation and putting
it to good use in promoting their
products abroad. We also take a look
at how Riverside County is shaping
up compared to other metropolitan
areas when it comes to foreign trade,
and the news is pretty impressive.
Carr Manufacturing, Regal Spas and
Eliminator Boats each is developing
a strong customer base outside our
borders, and they are doing so in
areas – after-market vehicle parts,
spas and performance watercraft –
where there is plenty of competition,
often from foreign companies that
are seeking to gain market share
by selling cheaper products.
But while competitors may offer a
lower price for a product that is not
well-made, the American reputation
for quality is winning out in the end.
And that reputation is paying off for the
Riverside County businesses that have
made the effort to go international.
Carr Manufacturing, for example, is doing
quite well abroad after its leadership
made a strategic decision to broaden
the company’s sales area to include the
rest of the world, then went out and
found the right personnel to make the
evolution happen. As a result, Carr is
excelling in areas such as some of the
smaller countries in the Persian Gulf
region where the company did not
anticipate especially strong sales.
Regal Spas is another success story,
and its success mirrors that which we
are having here at the Riverside County
Economic Development Agency’s
Office of Foreign Trade. Regal recently
shipped products to Croatia, which is
one of Riverside County’s official trading
partners. We at the OFT were thrilled
to make the introduction, and we look
forward to Regal’s continued success.
Finally, Eliminator Boats has weathered
what has been a sharp downturn for
all boat builders in the last few years,
in part because of the company’s
ability to sell outside the U.S. borders.
Nigeria has been a strong customer
for Eliminator, as have a slew of other
overseas countries, showing how
international trade can make a significant
difference in a company’s bottom line.
I look forward to sharing more
news of our success next month!
With warm regards,
Tom Freeman
Riverside County Trade Commissioner
From The OFT
Commissioner
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