The California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce held its annual convention in Orange County, California August 13th - 15th where more than 3,000 entrepreneurs, small business advocates, and corporate representatives gathered to learn about the latest trends in business development, network with other business professionals, and gain insights into growing and maintaining a successful business.

The first day of the convention, which was dubbed "International Trade Day", featured panel discussions focused on getting convention attendees thinking about international trade as a way to expand their businesses. The first panel included entrepreneurs that have found success in cross-border trade who relayed their first-hand experiences, including successes, challenges, and best practices. 

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The California Centers for International Trade Development, in collaboration with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, is hosting a premiere trade event featuring California's food and agricultural products. This event provides California's food producers and exporters the opportunity to meet with over 40 buyers from China, South Korea and Southeast Asia.

One-day trade events will be held in Los Angeles (Sept 8th), Fresno (Sept 10th) and San Francisco (Sept 12th) connecting your business with foreign importers, distributors and retailers interested in consumer-oriented food products.

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EXPORTECH is a comprehensive program designed for manufacturers to expand their global markets. The program brings together all of the elements to assist manufacturers in developing export plans that include assistance with logistics, distribution, country
selection, fees, regulations, best products to export and much more.

California Manufacturing Technology Consulting (CMTC) works with a variety of partners to deliver this comprehensive training program with proven results. On average, participating manufacturers generate $770,000 in new export sales.

October 7, November 11, and December 9, 2014 in Claremont, CA.

For more information, go to http://www.cmtc.com/exporting

San Diego is gearing up for National Manufacturing Day (MFG DAY)

Selected by the US Secretary of Commerce as one of the 12 advanced manufacturing communities in the country, San Diego is on the forefront of helping to strengthen American manufacturing. Manufacturing supports more than 90,000 jobs throughout San Diego County. National Manufacturing Day on October 3, 2014 provides San Diego manufacturers a great opportunity to highlight to the local community and the country, the diverse products that are manufactured in the San Diego region.

For information on Manufacturing Day events and activities around San Diego, click here. 

As a way to encourage businesses to bring back production to the U.S., the Commerce Deparment developed an online tool that helps firms assess the total costs of locating manufacturing operations overseas. The tool, called Assess Costs Everywhere (ACE), allows businesses to more accurately assess labor costs, shipping costs, product quality, intellectual property, and regulatory compliance, among other factors, and enable companies to make better informed decisions about where to locate their production facilities.

As an example, one of the main reasons that companies have cited for moving manufacturing operations overseas is low labor costs. Although raw hourly labor rates are significantly lower in some other countries, this does not take into account other factors that can can affect total labor costs. The ACE tool provides information on other factors that can significantly impact labor costs in other countries, including exchange rates, productivity, high turnover, and others. In many cases, once these factors are taken into consideration, the perceived advantage of lower labor costs is notably if not completely diminished.

The ACE tool can be accessed by going to http://acetool.commerce.gov/. 

The San Diego Center for International Trade Development (CITD) assists small and medium-sized enterprises expand internationally by providing low and no-cost programs and services including, one-on-one technical assistance and consulting, market research, training and educational programs, trade leads and special events.

International trade counseling is available by appointment at the following San Diego CITD Locations: