Trade office in South Korea proposed by Branstad

DES MOINES – Gov. Terry Branstad said today he wants to open a trade office in South Korea and make a concerted push to sell more Iowa agricultural commodities in that part of the world.

Branstad, who previously indicated interest in leading an Iowa trade mission to South Korea, said he wanted to expand the visit to include stops in China and India in hopes of removing obstacles to marketing Iowa products overseas in those growing economies. He said he hopes to meet with other farm-state governors at the National Governors Association's winter meeting in Washington later this month to prod completion and ratification of a U.S. trade agreement with South Korea as a forerunner to expanded export activities.

“I've set ambitious goals in terms of increasing exports,” Branstad told his weekly news conference.

“We think there are great opportunities for us again, especially with the growth that's going on in that part of the world,” said the Iowa governor, who predicted Iowa could triple or quadruple its exports – especially pork exports -- to South Korea if trade barriers are removed and Iowa companies have access to more information regarding trade opportunities.

According to the state Department of Economic Development, Iowa currently has trade offices in China, Japan, Germany and Mexico. In 2009, Iowa exported more than $9 billion in manufacturing and value-added agricultural goods.

During the 2010 campaign, Branstad set a goal of growing Iowa's exports by 20 percent over the next five years – an effort he projected would create nearly 13,000 jobs.

Under the Korea-U.S. agreement, exports of U.S. pork are expected to grow from $215 million to $870 million a year, with much of that growth coming from Iowa farms that are some of the largest producers of high-quality pork products in the world, Branstad said. He also supported mutual efforts to eliminate tariffs and to lower transactional and opportunity costs of foreign trade.