In recognition of World Trade Week 2011, 27 companies and organizations were honored for excellence in exporting at the President’s “E” Awards Ceremony. This year marked the 50th anniversary of the Presidential “E” Award, which was created by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to recognize persons, firms, or organizations that contribute greatly to increasing U.S. exports. Each award recipient demonstrated four or more years of successive export growth, usually accompanied by a rising percentage of export sales within total sales.
Four agriculture companies were among the awardees this year and were recognized in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. The companies represent a cross section of U.S. agribusinesses, hailing from Hawaii, Arizona and Florida.
Each company had received support from the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) as well as USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service through their local State Regional Trade Group (SRTG) association. SRTGs are regionally located, non-profit trade development organizations that work as USDA’s partners to help U.S. food producers and processors market their products overseas. SRTGs are funded by FAS, and each of the companies used FAS’ Market Access Program (MAP) funding through their SRTGs to participate in a variety of export promotion activities, including trade shows, trade missions and reverse or in-bound trade missions.
- Advanced Protein Systems of Phoenix manufactures products made from bovine colostrum for use as a health product. In the past year, they have been active participants in several international trade shows including the Vitafoods Trade Show in Europe, which they subsequently followed up with a trade mission to Turkey in 2010.
- Cyanotech Corporation of Kailua Kona, Hawaii, is a world leader in the production of high-value natural products derived from microalgae for animal and human consumption and used as a health aid. For the past two years, they have been active participants in marketing their products at the Vitafoods Trade Show in Switzerland.
- Magic Time International of Doral, Florida, distributes American-made food products such as canned, boxed and bottled goods, cereals, snacks, and beverages to countries around the globe. The company reached more than 80 international markets, experiencing most of its growth in the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean.
- Noni Biotech International, LLC of Haiku, Hawaii, is the world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of health and beauty products made from the Hawaiian Noni fruit. The company has effectively used trade and buying missions to Taiwan and China to help expand their international reach.
The export successes of these award recipients are contributing toward President Obama’s goal under the National Export Initiative (NEI) of doubling all U.S. exports by the end of 2014. Last week, USDA forecast U.S. farm exports to reach an all-time high of $137 billion in fiscal year 2011. Farm exports alone will support more than one million jobs in America this year. Strong U.S. farm exports are a key contributor to building an economy that continues to grow, innovate and out-compete the rest of the world.
Learn more about FAS market development programs.
