WorldCity Business Magazine

Trade, Italian style

by WC

Trade, Italian style

For the Miami Customs District, Italy is the 15th most important trade partner. The exchange between the two grew nearly 11 percent last year to total $1.3 billion. Carlo Ferrari, Italy’s new trade commissioner in South Florida, spoke with us about the goals of his office, which works within the Consulate General of Italy in Coral Gables, the services it offers and the made-in-Italy products that are popping up in Florida.

The Italian government used to have four trade promotion offices working through the embassies or consulates in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles. This year it added Miami and Houston. Why Miami?

Many Italian products enter the country through Florida. The state is an important distribution center, especially for construction material. There is already a well-established Italian presence here and a consulate general. We’re finding that many Italian companies are starting to invest in Florida. Also, the Italy-American Chamber of Commerce Southeast is located in Miami.

*That chamber tries to boost trade between Italy and the southeastern part of the United States? *

Yes.

What kinds of Italian products enter the United States through Miami and Fort Lauderdale?

Yachts. Last year Italy exported $1.369 billion in yachts and pleasure craft. [WorldCity figures show that $163 million-worth of those yachts entered the Miami Customs District.] And ceramic tiles and stone and granite for construction because of the boom in the real estate industry. Then there was $82 million in jewelry exported to Miami. South Florida is a distribution point for jewelry for Central America and the Caribbean. Many companies in that industry have their main offices here.

And wine? Our figures show that the U.S. imported more than $1 billion in Italian wine last year and $53 million of it came to South Florida. That’s a jump of 15 percent from a year earlier.

Yes, of course, wine. Consumers are more educated about wine. We’re doing a lot of wine promotions out of our New York office. When it comes to the United States, Italy beats the French in terms of quantity.

What is the geographic range of the new office?

Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and the Caribbean, except Cuba. Cuba is done by Mexico. We cover Puerto Rico, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands. When it comes to trade, we focus on regions regions in the United States and regions in Italy. But geography is only part of our duties.

What do mean?

Each trade promotion office also is in charge of specific industries or products.

What does your office handle?

Yachts. And sporting goods, including recreational firearms. Within that, we mean shipbuilding and boating, cruise procurement and fitness and sports.

*Let’s talk about yachts for a minute. South Florida’s yacht imports from Italy jumped nearly 19 percent last year. What’s the reason? *

We are very good at making yachts. And there are a lot of people in the United States with money to spend. Also, with the mega-yachts, if you sell just a few the trade values for the year jumps a lot. But the problem is, you know the port of entry but you don’t know where the yachts finally end up. We imagine that some will also be sold to clients from Central America and the Caribbean.

*And South Florida is buying Italian firearms? *

Rifles and guns, but sport firearms, not military. Italy is a major exporter of firearms to the United States. Our country hosts EXA in Brescia, Italy. It’s one of the biggest trade shows in the world for hunting and sports firearms.

What exactly does your office do to help trade?

There are two of us in the trade office. U.S. companies interested in Italian products can contact us. We have an English website, italtrade.com, that puts U.S. companies in touch with Italian products and services. For example, Italian companies are interested in procurement for the cruise industry, in contracts with hotels in South Florida. We can help with that. We do promotional campaigns, we can serve as a local consultant. Our office can help any company in the United States, not just those in Florida.

What kind of inquiries are you getting?

We’ve seen high interest in jewelry, fashion and clothes. Also machinery and equipment, but I would say that the most interest is in jewelry and building materials for the hotel boom.

How do you make yourself visible?

Every year the Italian Trade commission has a promotion budget. A big chunk of that is devoted to the U.S. market. You’ll see us at trade shows. Seatrade [for the shipping and cruise industry] in March in Miami Beach. And at IBEX [the boat-building technology show in Miami in November]. And MAATS [the marine accessory trade show] in Las Vegas.

*What kind of companies are you most likely to be involved with in South Florida? *

We are focused on small and medium-sized companies. They are the companies that don’t have the resources to do this all on their own. We can help them identify potential partners, help them make contacts in Italy.

*Before Miami, you were with the Italian trade office in New York. *

I was the deputy trade commissioner in New York. New York is important for business globally. Miami is important for business in Latin America.

How are you finding Miami?

There is a desperate need for public transportation.

Note: Italy’s trade relationship with the United States grew nearly 10 percent last year, with bilateral trade reaching 442.5 billion to make Italy the United States’ 11th most important trade partner. But the jump was not without complications. U.S. imports of Italian wine, non-crude oil and jewelry all surged, but leather shoes synonymous with the European country lost ground to lower cost producers in China, Vietnam and Brazil. To boost future trade, Italy has expanded its U.S. trade offices, adding a new trade unit in South Florida in March.