Though the energy industry receives much of the coverage for its impact on Oklahoma, the state boasts a wide range of sectors and products that appeal to foreign markets.
Subrina Chow – Courtesy of www.norcalwtc.org
The Journal Record’s Brian Brus chronicled the visit of a delegation from one such market who visited Oklahoma City this week. Subrina Chow, a representative at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Fransisco met with a number of government and commercial representatives in a stop at the state capitol, including Governor Mary Fallin.
According to the article, Chow’s visit was to learn more about suppliers for Hong Kong’s growing need for food products, manufactured goods and computer equipment. The state’s aerospace and biotech sectors were also areas of interest for the former British colony, which since 1997 has been a part of the People’s Republic of China under the “One country, two systems” governing strategy.
Of $40 billion in U.S. exports to China in 2014, Oklahoma exports only accounted for $41 million, a drop from the $43.7 million the state sent to the People’s Republic in 2002 when then-Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating visited the island as a member of a trade delegation. However, Oklahoma’s solid agricultural base provides opportunities for the steady, if slowing, Chinese economy.
By Daniel Mayer – via Wikipedia Commons GDFL.
Though the American beef industry’s exports have been hard hit due to a rising U.S. dollar and overhang from last year’s West Coast port strikes, there was growth in the U.S.’s 2014 beef exports to Hong Kong, which is now the third highest beef importer globally behind Japan and Mexico according to an article at Oklahoma Farm Report by Oklahoma State University’s Derrell S. Peel. While Peel notes that January beef exports to Hong Kong were down by 33 percent, the end of the port strikes and demand in Hong Kong will likely return exports to a positive output.
If you would like to read the full report from The Journal Record about Ms. Chow’s visit, please click here. If you or your business would like to learn more about doing business in Hong Kong, please visit the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office’s website here.