Import

Import and Export Businesses

There are many kinds of importers and exporters:

* Export management company (EMC): An EMC handles export operations for a domestic company that wants to sell its product overseas but doesn’t know how (and perhaps doesn’t want to know how). The EMC does it all–hiring dealers, distributors and representatives; handling advertising, marketing and promotions; overseeing marking and packaging; arranging shipping; and sometimes arranging financing. In some cases, the EMC even takes title to the goods, in essence becoming its own distributor. EMCs usually specialize by product, foreign market or both, and–unless they’ve taken title–are paid by commission, salary or retainer plus commission.
* Export trading company (ETC): While an EMC has merchandise to sell and is using its energies to seek out buyers, an ETC attacks the other side of the trading coin. It identifies what foreign buyers want to spend their money on and then hunts down domestic sources willing to export. An ETC sometimes takes title to the goods and sometimes works on a commission basis.
* Import/export merchant: This international entrepreneur is a sort of free agent. He has no specific client base, and he doesn’t specialize in any one industry or line of products. Instead, he purchases goods directly from a domestic or foreign manufacturer and then packs, ships and resells the goods on his own. This means, of course, that unlike the EMC, he assumes all the risks (as well as all the profits).

Top American Trading Partners

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the top 10 countries with which America trades (in order of largest import and export dollars to smallest) are:

• Canada
• Mexico
• Japan
• China
• Germany
• United Kingdom
• France
• Republic of Korea (South Korea)
• Taiwan
• Singapore

Other options inclide member countries of the Caribbean Basin and Andean pacts and the new kids on the Eastern Bloc, the former Soviet Union countries. Familiarize yourself with our biggest trading partners and see what they have to offer. Then take your best shot, with them or with another country.