Montana World Trade Center introducing Montana products to Irish stores

If the Montana World Trade Center’s latest project is a success, organic Montana lentils, huckleberry jelly and flapjack mix might soon be in the grocery carts of Irish consumers.

By BETH BRITTON
Tribune Business Editor

Thanks in part to a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the University of Montana-based center created the Rocky Mountain Market program http://www.rockymountainmarket.com that aims to help Montana businesses export products to one country at a time.

Fraser McLeay, a senior manager at the World Trade Center and director of the Rocky Mountain Market program, said Ireland was chosen because its size is ideal for a test-marketing initiative.

"We’re trying to educate businesses about the steps involved (in exporting)," McLeay said. Once the Irish market has been tested, the program will head to Taiwan in 2004, he said. The majority of the 52 businesses now participating are from Montana.

The first shipment of specialty foods arrived in Dublin last week. The Western-themed items are being sold at Donnybrook Fair, a food retailer in an affluent section of the city.

The Rocky Mountain Market staff will closely monitor sales of the various products and provide feedback to the businesses, suggesting modifications in packaging or selection of products suitable for the Irish market.

And the program is an inexpensive one for businesses interested in reaching new markets, McLeay said. For about $100, some marketing materials and samples to send to Ireland, a company learns exporting basics, he said.

"They are getting a lot for that little bit of money, and the end aim is to put businesses in a position so that they have larger accounts in Ireland and Europe and can handle the export process themselves," McLeay said.

Exporting is nothing new to Conrad-based Timeless Seeds Inc., but the British Isles is.

Since 1997, Timeless Seeds has exported its organic products to Pacific Rim countries. Today, between 10 percent and 15 percent of the company’s products are exported, company co-founder David Oien said. Company officials have set their sights on increasing that export market to 25 percent or 30 percent of total sales, he said.

Enter the Rocky Mountain Market, which Oien said will help his company and others get their feet wet in a new market.

"It’s a very expensive proposition to get into new markets, particularly foreign markets," Oien said. "There’s a lot of trade issues and tariff issues. It’s a challenge."

Officials at the Montana World Trade Center do the legwork, and for very little money a company can test the performance of their product in a foreign market, he added.

"They have the contacts and the program set up to present Montana products with in-store promotions," Oien said. Attacking a market thousands of miles away is an impossibility for small companies such as Timeless Seeds, he added.

"Once the door is opened and the market channels are understood and the market shows some degree of acceptance, companies can carry on from that foundation and continue to expand into those markets," Oien said.

The program aims to sell a lot more than food, however. The outdoor/sports, art and home furnishings categories are slated for testing in the future.

Artist Valerie Veis of Fairfield is one of more than a dozen artists whose work soon will be featured in Irish art exhibitions.

The Bank of Ireland has agreed to host a Montana art exhibition in Dublin, and the art also will be displayed in Galway and Limerick, McLeay said.

Veis has created and sold her baskets in Montana for about 12 years. But she said she is ready to spread her wings a bit and test interest in a faraway market.

"I guess what I was looking for was just an opportunity to have more exposure, more markets and an opportunity to interact with other artists," Veis said.

To learn more

For information about the Montana World Trade Center’s Rocky Mountain Market program, visit http://www.rockymountainmarket.com or call (406) 243-6982.

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