Tyson Foods presented ‘Global Trade’ award
by May 22, 2013 12:14 pm 91 views
Gov. Mike Beebe on Wednesday (May 22) presented four Arkansas companies with the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Global Trade during an awards luncheon at the Governor’s Mansion. The award honors companies for their leadership in exporting goods and services throughout the world.
This year’s winners are:
• Agribusiness – Tyson Foods (Springdale)
• Small Manufacturer Exporter – Conway Machine Inc. (Conway)
• Medium Manufacturer Exporter – Alliance Rubber Company (Hot Springs)
• Large Manufacturer Exporter – Welspun Tubular (Little Rock)
“Arkansas’s exporting companies are ambassadors to the global marketplace,” Beebe said in a statement. “These companies understand that competing effectively around the world is good not only for their bottom line, but for our state’s economic health as well.”
This is the fourth year for the program which is co-sponsored by the Arkansas District Export Council, Arkansas Economic Development Commission, U.S. Commercial Service, and the Arkansas World Trade Center.
Judging criteria was based on factors such as most recent percentage of export sales to total sales, growth of export sales over the past three years, the company's goals and commitments internationally and the number of jobs saved or created due to the company's export performance if applicable.
Previous winners include Coleman Dairy, Little Rock; Trump Tours, Bentonville; Riceland Foods, Stuttgart; Amercable, Inc., El Dorado; Cobb-Vantress, Inc., Siloam Springs; Weldon, Williams, & Lick, Inc., Fort Smith; Keith Smith Company, Inc, Hot Springs; Allen Engineering, Paragould; Power Technology, Inc., Alexander; Pernod Ricard USA, Fort Smith; and Keo Fish Farm, Keo.
According to Census Bureau data, Arkansas’s export shipments of merchandise in 2012 totaled $7.6 billion – an increase of 36% over 2011 totals. Arkansas’s largest markets in 2012 were Canada ($1.7 billion), Mexico ($845 million), China ($720 million) and France ($365 million). More than 14% of Arkansas manufacturing workers depend on exports for their jobs.
1,627 Arkansas companies exported goods or services in 2012, and 78% of these companies were small to medium sized.
The Arkansas District Export Council is composed of business leaders appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. District Export Councils contribute leadership and international trade expertise to complement the U.S. Commercial Service's export promotion efforts through counseling businesses on the exporting process and conducting trade education and community outreach.