More St. Louis-area businesses to get breaks on duties
St. Louis Business Journal
October 1, 2010
By Kelsey Volkmann
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley plan to announce Monday an expansion of the area's Foreign Trade Zone, allowing more companies to save on thousands -- and possibly millions -- of dollars on duties for importing and exporting.
Officials say they hope this further boosts the region's efforts to become the Midwestern trade hub with China.
The zones are restricted-access sites that are considered outside the U.S. Customs territory. Companies that operate in foreign-trade zones can defer, reduce or eliminate Customs duties on foreign products admitted into zones for storage, exhibition, assembly, manufacturing and processing.
"The Foreign Trade Zone restructuring lowers the cost of doing business and makes us more competitive," said Nancy Schnoebelen, vice president of marketing and communications for the St. Louis County Economic Council. "It will be a much faster process for companies."
And instead of two smaller Foreign Trade Zones, one in part of the city and another in part of the county, the zone will be expanded to encompass all of the city and county, pending Congressional and St. Louis County Port Authority approval.
The announcement will be made at 10 a.m. Monday at the headquarters of Sigma-Aldrich, a life-science and specialty chemical company that stands to benefit from not having to pay duties.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board, chaired by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, administers the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones program.
Chinese officials plan to visit St. Louis again later this month in a trip that could make or break local leaders' efforts to establish a trade hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, Mike Jones, leader of the Midwest-China Hub Commission, said recently.
