MOSES LAKE — With 95 percent of the market being outside the United States, the Grant County Small Business Development Center and the Economic Development Council will be sponsoring an Export Seminar to prepare small to medium businesses on the basics of export readiness Oct. 19-21 at the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center.

“You just never know where the interest lies. Who would have known that South Korean hospitals were interested in chickpeas or wasn’t able to get a hold of organic flour? We just happened to go to them with that on our business trade mission with these items,” said Allan Peterson, business development manager. “A lot of countries will pay more for product than we are paying here, so it makes sense to look into other possibilities. We compete against [each other] so fiercely in the United States, overseas there are places where it’s just wide open.” Some of the topics of discussion will include: — Basics of export readiness — Keys to market selection and proven market entry methods — Financing tools and available resources along with reliable methods of payment — Best practices in shipping and logistics and real world presentation by a freight forwarder — Basics of a good export business plan and export compliance requirements “We’ll hit the basics of export readiness, keys to market selection and financing tools,” Peterson said. “We want to take the mystery out of a lot of those things.” The target, Peterson said, is small to medium business, which are already exporting and need a leg up on troubleshooting or learning more about areas of exporting they don’t understand. “We’ll try and have some people that made the business trip to South Korea there as guest speakers,” Peterson said. The Grant County trade mission to Gunpo, South Korea earlier this year was successful on several levels, establishing international business contacts, fruitful business-to-business discussions, basic supply and demand. Representatives for five business Grant County-based business owners were part of the delegation representing Fresh Nature Foods, Cascade Mills Flour, Trinidad Lavender, Whiskey Gap Distillery, Bartelson Transport, Bowman Orchards and reACT Trainer. For Trinidad Greenhouse & Farms in Quincy, which already has a global footprint, it was a step into the Korean market. Trinidad Lavender is a wholesale distributor of lavender and lavandula products that works closely with major cosmetic lines. Cascade Organic Flour LLC. consumers will include the South Korean market, as well. The central Washington company representatives had exceedingly good discussions with South Korean officials, which they hope will allow them to enter into the international market by the end of the year. Eastern Washington’s Fresh Nature Foods is about to make its first global footprint with several trade agreements in the South Korean market. The Spokane-based company was very successful in its discussions, vice president of sales and business development Brad Overberg said. Fresh Nature Foods established several contacts, including interest from a hospital. The opportunity is there, Peterson said, business owners and managers will be able to tap into the knowledge at the Export Seminar. For more information contact Peterson at allan.peterson@wsbdc.org or log onto www.wsbdc.org.