News Releases for November 2006
November 2, 2006
For further information, please Contact the Governor's Office
Dalrymple, Trade Mission Delegates Announce New Russian Sales, Long-Term Partnerships
BISMARCK, N.D. - Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, officials of the North Dakota Trade Office and members of a trade delegation currently visiting Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine today announced new sales resulting from the mission. SolarBee, a Dickinson, N.D. company, reported Thursday that it has entered an agreement to sell its solar-powered water circulators - a deal valued at $220,000.
The initial sale is expected to be part of a much more lucrative, long-term partnership between SolarBee and two Russian companies that have landed five projects to improve the quality of water supplies in Kazakhstan and Russia, said Chris Harris, SolarBee vice president of international marketing.
The sales agreement follows a major sale completed last week by Wahpeton-based WCCO Belting Inc., in Kazakhstan. All of the trade mission’s participating companies have reported establishing significant contacts with pre-qualified equipment buyers and distributors – contacts they fully expect to result in new export sales.
“Our primary goal was to establish business ties with companies that were identified in advance as being qualified, market leaders who could help expand our international sales in these three countries,” Dalrymple said. “Our companies have succeeded, and initial sales that have been generated as a result of this mission are an added bonus.”
“Everyone I met with could eventually carry our equipment,” said Mike Gates, president of Gates Manufacturing, Inc., of Lansford, N.D. Gates, a manufacturer of heavy harrow tillage equipment, said his next step will be to forward more information regarding his equipment prices and freight charges to four equipment distributors in Russia and others in Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
Harris said SolarBee’s first sale of water-improvement equipment in Russia went to Moscow-based Kontur-Aqua. SolarBee also has agreed to supply a larger Russian company called EWP Eurasian Water Partnership, he said.
“Both Kazakhstan and Russia are dealing with significant algae growth in their water supplies and SolarBee is well positioned to help solve their problems,” Harris said.
Tom Shorma, President of Wahpeton-based WCCO Belting, Inc., announced Oct. 31, that his company secured a major order to supply swather belts for a Kazakhstan equipment manufacturing company.
On Tuesday, Shorma began talks with the president and the general director of one of Russia’s largest farm equipment manufacturing companies. The company, with $1 billion in sales last year, is having problems with its current belting systems and is considering WCCO Belting to supply its belting needs, he said.
Other initial results from the mission’s second week, business meetings in Moscow and Kiev, Ukraine, include:
- Mark Hatloy, sales representative for Sund Manufacturing Company Inc., Newburg, N.D., said he has entered talks with four Russian agricultural equipment distributors to sell Sund’s harvesting and grain-handling equipment. Representatives of Fargo-based Brandt Holdings, Inc. are meeting with distributors interested in marketing Brandt’s used, late-model John Deere equipment throughout Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.
- Most members of the trade delegation will return to North Dakota Saturday, after nearly two-weeks of meetings with potential business partners and equipment buyers in Astana, Kazakhstan, Moscow and Kiev. The delegation also participated in the international AgroProdExpo agricultural trade show in Astana, Kazakhstan during the first week of their trip.
The economies of Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine continue steady growth. The countries’ governments and private sectors are heavily investing in the development of their agricultural industries which are in great demand for new and used, late-model equipment and machinery, the U.S. Department of Commerce reports.
Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple is leading the trade mission, with representatives from seven North Dakota companies. Six of the participating companies are manufacturers and distributors of agricultural equipment. Companies participating in the trade mission are:
- Sund Manufacturing, Inc., Lansford
- SolarBee, Dickinson
- WCCO Belting Inc., Wahpeton
- Titan Machinery, Fargo
- Brandt Holdings Inc., Fargo
- Duratech Industries, Jamestown
- Gates Manufacturing, Lansford
E-mail comments to the Governor
