CalAgX - Port of Los Angeles

P O R T O F L O S
A N G E L E S
Newsletter Title
ONE WORLD-YOUR WORLD-ONE MARKET
California
Specialty Crop
Exporters on
the Rise
Trade Connect Graduated California
Specialty Crop Exporters
California is the top
exporter in the
nation for fruits,
tree nuts, and many
other specialty
crops.
California specialty
crops business
activity represents
a $15.9 billion
industry.
The Port of Los Angeles Trade
Connect Program in partnership
with the Center for International
Trade Development (CITD) at
State Center Community College
District (Clovis) and CITD (Fresno)
graduated its first California Specialty
Crop Exporters on May 17,
2012. The 18 graduating participants
in the California Agricultural
Export Certificate (CalAgX) training
program were honored with a
luncheon reception at the Ventura
County Office of Education
Conference & Educational Services
in Camarillo.
The CalAgX program aimed to
develop California specialty crop
exporters, by providing them with
the tools and services available to
help them be successful. The
program consists of 6 separate
training sessions held at two-week
intervals with each session lasting
4 hours. The honorees have been
attending these bi-monthly training
sessions since March 2012.
CalAgX is also designed to assist
California companies in developing
an export program and expand
sales overseas. Each of the 6 sessions
was designed to meet the
learning needs of new-to-export or
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Fruits, nuts, vegetables
and other specialty crop
products grown in
California are highly
regarded and in high
demand by people
around the world.
Surprisingly few
California farms,
processors and
marketers export their
products.
Title Text
Participants from Santa Monica
Mountain Honey, Santa Barbara
Pistachio Company and Sunrise Farms
onions showcased their crops.
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Organization
Port Of los Angeles
TRADE CONNECT PROGRAM
425 S. Palos Verdes St.,
San Pedro, CA
Phone: 310 732 7765
E-mail: jcoronel@portla.org
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/business/
trade.asp
Grow Your Company through Exports!
SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM GRADUATES
Jafar Hadizadeh
Better Food Co.
Matt Shirvani
Better Food Co.
Brigitte Lehat
Blessed Trader
Brandon Calandri
Calandri Sonrise Farms
Ann Sotelo
Calandri Sonrise Farms
William Davis
Davis Trade & Comodities
Jahuan Koo
Koos Foods, Inc.
Rajiv Parmar
Mitrics Corporation
Omar J. Islas
Pacifica Flowers, Inc.
Arleta Ayrapetyan
AJ, Inc.
Juliet Andriassian
AJ, Inc.
Milton Yin
Rowland Trading, Inc.
Angel Hung
Rowland Trading, Inc.
Josh Zannon
Santa Barbara Pistachio Co.
Ali Zadeh
Santa Monica Mtn Honey
Patricia Perez Reyes Santa Monica Mtn Honey
Laila Hazen
Ventura Coastal
Christine Salazar
Ventura Coastal
This training program is funded by the Fresno Regional Center for
International Trade Development through the 2009 Specialty Crop
Block Grant program of the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA), and is presented in cooperation with the
California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
non-exporting food, beverage and agriculture companies.
Sessions consist of:
Session 1: Introduction to Food & Agriculture Exporting
Session 2: International Marketing
Session 3: Logistics & Documentation
Session 4: Negotiation & Cultural Aspects
Session 5: Financing Exports & Getting Paid
Session 6: Foreign Regulations & Legal Aspects
The participants have been actively working with the
CITD staff to develop an export market-entry plans and
strategies to be implemented and promoted to target overseas
markets. It seems that the training program help wet
the participants’ appetite for export. Already, some have
registered to join the Trade Connect California delegation
at the Hong Kong Food Expo in August and still others are
planning to join “A Taste of California Inbound Buying
Mission” in Oakland on August 28-30, 2012.
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