Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 8, 1993 TAG: 9312080066
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But while John B. Adams Jr., president of A. Smith Bowman Distillery Inc. of Fredericksburg, is sipping coffee in D.C., his company's vice president is in Mexico City trying to woo the business that U.S. companies envision thanks to NAFTA.
The trade agreement, which takes effect Jan. 1, will over 15 years eliminate tariffs on goods traded among Canada, Mexico and the United States.
It will make U.S. products cheaper for consumers in Mexico.
And that's why Tim Brown is representing Bowman at a booth at the Rep-Com '93 trade show, along with Chesapeake Corp., a Richmond forest products company that has a plant in Roanoke.
Rufus Phillips, export manager for the state Department of Economic Development, encouraged the two companies to attend the show because he thought their products would find a ready market in Mexico.
Chesapeake makes all kinds of boxes. Bowman is best known for its Virginia Gentleman bourbon, but it also makes Bowman's brands of vodka, gin and rum.
And - a bit of irony, here - it sells Bowman's tequila, which it imports from Mexico and which Brown hopes to "sell back to them."
In addition to showing off products, Brown is interviewing potential distributors for Mexico and Latin America.
Bowman already is making a major export push into Russia; it provided a specially labeled vodka for VIP suites at the Moscow Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in November.
The distillery has been exporting since 1990, when it got an order from Poland for 33,000 cases of vodka. It has shipped 750,000 cases of liquors to Russia in the past year, but Mexico and Central America represent new territory.
Both Bowman and Chesapeake confirmed they see Mexico as a skipping stone to business in Central and South America.
Gerry Nelson, vice president of sales for a Chesapeake Corp. operation in Baltimore, said his company has already "sold a little dab" in those countries, but now wants to see what its chances are "throughout the area."
He said U.S. Department of Commerce staff said any company that wanted to do business in a country should attend a trade show. The department sponsors Rep-Com.
"This is the first stage of a whole approach to export marketing strategy," Nelson said.
He's also going to a show in January in Miami for companies that seek business in the Americas.
Chesapeake makes a variety of packaging. The Roanoke plant specializes in cartons for furniture shipments, but other facilities make high-graphics packaging like that used for products such as Dust Busters. The company also makes a laminated bulk box that can hold up to 2,000 pounds.
by CNB