Orange County Trade

Orange County companies hoping to take advantage of increased opportunities for global trade now have a new central location to gear up for doing business abroad. The county's first World Trade Center opened for business Tuesday in temporary quarters at 1 Park Plaza in Irvine's Jamboree Center. The center is scheduled to move to new quarters in a 20-story office tower, 4 Park Plaza, that is under construction and scheduled for completion in the spring of 1991.

Asia's financial crisis will exact a heavier toll on Orange County's exports than previously anticipated, costing the county thousands of new jobs, Chapman University economists warned Thursday. The county will lose 5,900 new jobs this year, more than twice the number of new positions that were expected to be sidelined when Chapman first assessed the impact in December. Chapman economists said the troubles have since spread to South Korea and Taiwan.

Armor All Products Inc. regularly ships hundreds of tons of its automotive cleaners, polishes and degreasers to countries in Europe and Asia and maintains a network of outside distributors as well as a 15-person international sales staff to market its goods overseas. But Orange County has few businesses the size of Armor All--companies that can afford their own export units.

Orange County's exports grew again in 1996, but at a slower pace than in the previous year, according to a new government report. Merchandise export sales in the county rose 3.3% last year, to $8.31 billion, the U.S. Commerce Department said. Orange County's ranking as the 13th largest exporter among 253 metropolitan areas studied remained unchanged. In 1995, the county's exports surged 19.4%, to $8 billion.

Global Trading Forecast: Foreign trade will play an increasingly important role in Orange County's economy, according to a UC Irvine survey released Friday. Global trading remained "very robust" despite the recession, said Kenneth Kraemer, a UCI professor of management. In the next five years, he expects that about 50% of the county's firms will be engaged in trading, with the greatest growth coming in trade with countries in the Far East.

Exports are one of the brightest spots in Orange County's financial future and could help lift the region from recession, a study being released today suggests. One of every 10 jobs in Orange County depends on exports, according to the report from the Institute for Economic and Environmental Studies at Cal State Fullerton. That amounts to 120,000 positions. And the county's $6.5 billion in exports for 1991, the latest year for which data is available, accounted for 9.

Orange County's economy will continue to benefit from a burgeoning export market, but "the hustle and bustle of previous years" will be missing as the growth rate slows, a national economist said Thursday. A real estate consultant, meanwhile, predicted that moderately priced housing in Orange County will continue to appreciate but that prices paid for million-dollar homes may be negotiable.

A voracious global appetite for computers and other electronic products pushed Silicon Valley ahead of rival Los Angeles-Long Beach in the dollar value of exports in 1995, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The home of Apple, Intel and other U.S. high-technology giants boasted $26.82 billion in exports last year, an increase of 34.5% over the previous year, making San Jose the fastest-growing major export area in the country.

Hoping to encourage Asian investment here, a group of city officials leaves today on a trade mission to South Korea. "We already have the Korean community here, so basically we have a little bit of a hometown atmosphere here for them," said Mayor Bruce A. Broadwater, who will be traveling with Councilman Ho Chung, Assistant City Manager Mike Fenderson and several members of the Korean Chamber of Commerce and the Korean-American Assn.

Aviation Distributors built its business around the sale of spare parts to airlines. But the Irvine company scored a coup last year by dealing in bigger commodities: whole airplanes. The company, without help from a foreign intermediary, bought two used Boeing 707 freight jets from Air China and, in turn, sold them to Jordan. That $6-million deal, combined with a upsurge in export sales, earned Aviation Distributors an award Thursday night from the World Trade Assn. of Orange County.

Cotton isn't grown in Orange County, but about 2,000 metric tons of the fluffy white stuff--packed in bulging, 600-pound burlap-wrapped bales--was shipped overseas last year by a Santa Ana exporter from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The cotton shipped by R.W. Zebrowski Inc. came mostly from mills in central California, Texas and Oklahoma--the nation's major cotton-growing regions.

Armor All Products Inc. regularly ships hundreds of tons of its automotive cleaners, polishes and degreasers to countries in Europe and Asia and maintains a network of outside distributors as well as a 15-person international sales staff to market its goods overseas. But Orange County has few businesses the size of Armor All--companies that can afford their own export units.

When trade relations between Japan and the United States get chilly, an icy breeze blows through Orange County. Japan is Orange County's largest export destination, taking about $1 billion in computers, medicines and other goods produced locally every year. And Orange County is the home of U.S. headquarters for Japanese companies like Mazda, Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Ricoh, which provide thousands of jobs locally. So it hit home Wednesday after U.S.

Aviation Distributors built its business around the sale of spare parts to airlines. But the Irvine company scored a coup last year by dealing in bigger commodities: whole airplanes. The company, without help from a foreign intermediary, bought two used Boeing 707 freight jets from Air China and, in turn, sold them to Jordan. That $6-million deal, combined with a upsurge in export sales, earned Aviation Distributors an award Thursday night from the World Trade Assn. of Orange County.

Orange County businesses are beginning to discover the rewards of exporting their products. And Marilyn Loewy, as president of the World Trade Center Assn. of Orange County, is helping to lead the way. Before taking a top job with the trade association, Loewy had her own export consulting business. She has lived abroad, is a frequent guest speaker and served on an export subcommittee during the Reagan Administration. She was interviewed her Irvine office by Times staff writer Chris Woodyard.

Exports are one of the brightest spots in Orange County's financial future and could help lift the region from recession, a study being released today suggests. One of every 10 jobs in Orange County depends on exports, according to the report from the Institute for Economic and Environmental Studies at Cal State Fullerton. That amounts to 120,000 positions. And the county's $6.5 billion in exports for 1991, the latest year for which data is available, accounted for 9.