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More Small Business Support During These Challenging Times
The Export-Import Bank has made some changes that might help grow your company’s international sales:

• Lower Premiums for Insurance
Small businesses now receive a 15 percent premium rate reduction on the short-term small business multi-buyer policy, and the short-term small business environmental multi-buyer policy. Half of all policy holders benefit from this change. More

• Working Capital for Your Suppliers Too
We now offer cover for indirect exporters – those companies that produce goods or services that exporters rely on to sell their product overseas. Association with your international sale makes your suppliers eligible for a working capital loan guaranteed by Ex-Im Bank. More

• Raised Ceiling for Small Businesses
U.S. exporters with annual export credit sales up to $7.5 million are now eligible for enhanced coverage under Ex-Im Bank's short-term small business multi-buyer insurance policy. The previous eligibility ceiling was $5 million. This popular policy includes: 1) no first loss deductibles; 2) discounted insurance premiums; and 3) exporter performance risk protection for lenders financing receivables for qualified exporters.

• More Support for Exports to South Korea
To help meet increased demand, we created a $2.9 billion facility to expedite U.S. exports to Korea. Ex-Im Bank granted special delegated authority to insure U.S. lenders’ confirmation of letters of credit issued by 11 Korean financial institutions. More

Liquidity Issues Need Not Prevent Your International sales.
A lack of liquidity in the marketplace may have reduced your ability to grow your business. That should not be the case. Ex-Im Bank is ready, willing and able to fill your need for financing support. If you have a credit worthy transaction, but your lender in the current environment hesitates due to the risk involved, encourage them to contact Ex-Im Bank. We can cover most of the political and commercial risks. Contact Ex-Im Bank directly as we have regional offices in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, New York City, Long Beach, San Diego and San Francisco (simply call 800.565.3946 and press 2 to connect to the nearest office).

Meet Fred P. Hochberg, Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President

Eight-City "Exports Live!" Seminar Series Successfully Brings Ex-Im Bank to Small Businesses
More than 1,500 attended a half-day interactive seminar series created by five federal agencies to demonstrate how local businesses can successfully leverage government export assistance to expand sales of U.S. goods and services in foreign markets and increase their bottom lines. The first seminar kicked in New York City's Marriott Marquis hotel on Oct. 5, 2009 and was followed by similar sessions in Boston (Oct. 6), Miami (Oct. 26), Houston (Oct. 27), Chicago (Nov. 10), Los Angeles (Nov. 16), Seattle (Nov. 17), and Detroit (Dec. 11). The eight-city "Exports Live!: Real Deals, Real Profits" series reviewed strategies and partnerships used by local small and medium-size businesses that have already discovered how to increase profitability through exporting.

Upcoming Trade Seminars
May 3-4, and July 11-12, 2010, in Washington, DC.
Visit www.exim.gov/seminars.

What’s New? Banner Year for Ex-Im Bank!
The agency has topped $70 billion in total credits outstanding - the highest level in the Bank's 75 year history. In fiscal 2009, the bank set another record with $21 billion in authorizations, and a record of $4.36 billion in authorizations for small business exporters. Small business transactions comprised 88% of all authorizations and 500 new companies used Ex-Im Bank products. "Ex-Im Bank continues to provide a record-breaking amount of financing for American exporters," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. "We are stepping into the breach when traditional sources of capital are reluctant to offer financing."

Ex-Im Bank open financing programs for Cambodia, Laos, Bolvia, and Turkmenistan.
More on Cambodia. More on Laos, Bolvia, and Turkmenistan.

New to Exporting

• FOB Dock Delivery means that the shipping charges are included in the price of the item, and that the shipped item becomes the legal property and responsibility of the receiver when it reaches the dock. Importantly, the receiver does not control the documents which are needed to file a claim, or prove export.

• Check out A Basic Guide to Exporting.

Current Ex-Im Bank Policyholders

• Tips to Prevent Insurance Claims

- Deadline: Submit your claim between 3 and 8 months after the default date
- Shipping: Have shipping documents proving exports to the buyer
- DCL: Review carefully all of the requirements to use your DCL authority
- Overdue: Stop shipping to buyers who are 90 days or more past due

Any questions? Contact your broker or your Ex-Im Bank relationship manager for assistance. Our goal is to help you get paid for what you sell!

• Shipping to a third country is fine if approved ahead of time. Make sure the SBCL has been endorsed to show third party and/or third country shipping. This often happens when a buyer’s primary corporate office is the obligor/paying office but your product or service is used by a subsidiary in another location.

Another Success Story: Illinois Jobs Created, Nigerian Health to Be Enhanced
Forty new U.S. jobs will be created and Nigeria's access to life-saving medical supplies will be enhanced when American Plastics Technologies Inc. (APT), Schiller Park, Ill., sells equipment to make intravenous (IV) solutions, injectable medicines and bottled water to Nigeria. The export sale will be backed by an Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) long-term loan guarantee. Alpha Fluids Limited of Lagos will use the equipment to make sterile, high-quality IV solutions, medical drips, and vitamin-enriched bottled waters and medical beverages in a new plant in Asaba in southern Nigeria. In addition to providing the equipment, APT, a 60-employee manufacturer located in the Chicago suburbs, will provide installation, training, and operations services for the new facility.

Ex-Im Bank will guarantee a $15.5 million loan from the Private Export Funding Corporation (PEFCO), New York, N.Y., to support the sale. Oceanic Bank International Plc of Abuja, Nigeria, also will guarantee the transaction. "This project is going to change thousands of lives for the better, for several generations to come in Nigeria -- it is such a life-saving thing," said Dr. Rao Murukurthy, APT chief executive officer. "And it will enable our company to add 40 U.S. employees immediately to help with installation, operations and maintenance at the new plant." Sixteen U.S. suppliers from across the country, eight of them small businesses, are participants in the APT export.

Did You Know?

• Ex-Im Bank is a self-sustaining government agency. At the end of Fiscal Year 2009 (September 30, 2009), we returned $135 million to the U.S. Treasury!

• There are many sources for obtaining credit reports on foreign buyers? For a list of providers, both in the U.S. and overseas, visit http://www.exim.gov/pub/ins/ pdf/eib99-08.pdf.

Factoid
While 95% of the world’s population is outside the United States, less than one-percent of U.S. companies export. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of those exporters sell to just one country.

Need a Trade Finance Consultant at No Cost?
If you want to take advantage of Ex-Im Bank’s financial support and speak to our trade-finance specialist in your region, simply complete the ExporterResponse Form.

Please e-mail us with any comments/suggestions at ExporterNews@exim.gov.

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Export-Import Bank of the United States, 811 Vermont Ave., NW, Room 1273, Washington, D.C. 20571