Press Releases

September 9, 2004

SUSTA IS AWARDED FUNDING TO PROMOTE U.S. PRODUCTS IN SRI LANKA - THE GATEWAY TO SOUTHERN INDIA

"This is the fifth emerging market in which the USDA has granted SUSTA funding to develop trade."

New Orleans, LA – Research produced by the Southern U.S. Trade Association (SUSTA) and the USDA shows that opportunities exist, especially for U.S. food ingredients and processed foods shipped in bulk, to increase sales of exported products to Sri Lanka and south India.

Under USDA's Emerging Markets Program, SUSTA has been awarded funding to lead a two-year initiative with the goal of increasing U.S. export sales to Sri Lanka, the gateway to buyers in south India, for the retail, foodservice and food processing industries. The initiative will begin with the interviewing and assessment of food buyers in Sri Lanka. SUSTA will then arrange one-on-one meetings between U.S. exporters and Sri Lankan buyers. A SUSTA-sponsored training program will prepare selected U.S. exporters and Sri Lankan buyers for international sales development.

As a fourth component, SUSTA will evaluate the costs, incentives and potential local partners for establishing a U.S. food processing and packaging operation in Sri Lanka and south India.

This is the fifth emerging market in which the USDA has granted SUSTA funding to develop trade. SUSTA has conducted similar initiatives in South America, Central America, India and Thailand/Malaysia. During these initiatives, SUSTA worked closely with foreign and domestic companies to discover and develop opportunities for southern U.S. products in emerging markets created by deregulation, new trade agreements and new demand from a growing middle class or tourism.

SUSTA, a non-profit trade organization promoting southern U.S. food and agriculture products in foreign countries, is funded by the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service and works closely with the State Departments of Agriculture in the southern U.S. to give a giant boost to the promotional efforts of the domestic agriculture industry.

For more information on this and other SUSTA programs, visit www.susta.org.

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