The Governor’s Office of Economic Development and World Trade Center Utah will send a state-sponsored trade mission to Mexico during the week of August 6, 2012. Utah’s state-sponsored trade missions are an outstanding opportunity for small to medium sized businesses to explore international expansion opportunities. The state provides Utah businesses the following services, at no cost, in the destination country: business-to-business matchmaking services, a customized itinerary of face-to-face meetings with potential business partners, logistics support for all meetings, pre and post-trade mission support, and networking events with invited foreign guests to match the needs of participating companies.

Mexico is ripe with opportunities for Utah businesses. Between 2008 and 2011 Utah’s exports to Mexico increased by 113% from $242 million to $516 million while the USA as a whole increased exports by just 15% from $1.3 trillion to $1.5 trillion. In 2011, many of Utah’s non-metallic exports to Mexico included electronic memory and circuits, prepared food products, and manufactured transportation-related equipment. According to the latest U.S. Commercial Service promising opportunities in Mexico for U.S. companies exist in many of Utah’s important sectors: information technology applications in health care, life sciences (including nutraceuticals), automotive parts and supplies, energy and natural resource industries.

Past state-sponsored trade missions to Mexico established important connections for various Utah businesses in medical, construction, and security industries. The 2012 trade mission will bring Utah companies to Mexico City and other locations that are critical for creating Utah-Mexico business partnerships. For more information on this trade mission or to participate, please contact Austin Becker at abecker@utah.gov, or by phone at (801) 538-8754 or visit the trade mission webpage.

_{*Export data adapted from http://www.census.gov}