Mauldin, SC - A new, 75-acre trade park unveiled today in South Carolina's Upstate marks a new partnership between U.S. and Chinese business investment and further expansion of the state's foreign-trade zones.
The Global Trade Center includes a 200,000-square-foot building and exhibition hall in Mauldin, SC, about 200 miles from the Port of Charleston.
More than 140 Chinese companies will display their products to U.S. purchasers in the initial year of operation. Several U.S. companies are currently working with the center to do business with China. Pacific Gateway is in talks with officials in Brazil and Ukraine to offer similar trade services in the future.
The Global Trade Center will serve as a market-entry incubator to assist both foreign companies entering the U.S. market and U.S. companies entering international markets.
Mr. Zhijiang Feng, deputy director of The Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone Government in Tianjin, China will assist Greenville investment firm Pacific Gateway Capital Group in today's opening.
"This trade park is an economic development tool to assist U.S. companies to export to China and is a platform to bring foreign companies here to invest," said Peter Kwan, president of Pacific Gateway Capital Group. "The center will help both overcome the initial stage of entering a new market."
The center is a general purpose Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ). South Carolina's FTZ program began major expansions last year, bringing more than 280 acres into the Upstate's FTZ #38.
Other recent additions to FTZ #38 include:
While South Carolina is 40 th in the nation in physical size, it ranks second - behind only Texas - in dollar value of goods exported from Foreign Trade Zones, which totaled $1.4 billion in federal fiscal year 2004.*
Merchandise received in FTZ #38 totaled $8 billion in FY04, a 35% increase from the $5.2 billion reported the previous year. Corporations residing in FTZ #38 represent $4 billion in capital investment.
FTZs are a U.S. Department of Commerce trade program established in 1934 to create and maintain investment and jobs in the United States. FTZs are secure areas located in or near U.S. Customs' ports of entry, but are legally considered to be outside Customs territory in regards to tariff laws. Generally, payment of duties and excise taxes on foreign merchandise admitted to a Zone will be deferred until the goods are transferred to Customs territory for U.S. consumption. Merchandise stored, manufactured, processed or displayed in a Zone and then exported is not dutiable. Other benefits are duty reduction for manufacturers, direct delivery for 'just in time' (JIT) manufacturers, reductions in Customs merchandise processing fees, increased security and lower insurance costs.
The South Carolina State Ports Authority is the grantee for FTZ #38 and the Coastal FTZ #21. In this role, the Authority works with prospective companies, acts as the initial liaison to Customs and Border Protection, submits the FTZ application on the company's behalf and markets existing sites.
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Contacts:
Byron D. Miller
Director, Public Relations
S.C. State Ports Authority
(843) 577-8197
Peter Kwan
President
Pacific Gateway Capital Group
(864) 242-2288