Five Exporters Named Award Winners
by May 19, 2015 5:19 pm 96 views
Five Arkansas companies were winners of the 2015 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Global Trade. The award honors companies for their leadership in exporting goods and services worldwide.
This year’s winners are:
- Georg Fischer Harvel LLC (Little Rock) – Large Manufacturer Exporter
- Knesek Guns Inc. (Van Buren) – Medium Service Provider
- Galley Support Innovations Inc. (Sherwood) – Small Manufacturer
- Jobco Inc. (Fort Smith) – Small Service Provider
- Collective Bias Inc. (Bentonville) – Rising Star
“Our businesses must compete in the global market if our state is to reach its economic potential,” said Gov. Asa Hutchinson. “The Governor’s Award for Excellence in Global Trade recognizes those businesses that are forging the way and finding success. They are great examples of how businesses must continue to evolve in the 21st century.”
This is the sixth 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.
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Arkansas’ export shipments of merchandise in 2014 totaled $6.9 billion. There were 2,242 Arkansas companies exporting goods from Arkansas in 2014. Arkansas’ largest trade partners in 2014 were Canada ($1.4 billion), Mexico ($738 million), France ($440 million), and China ($437 million).