Euroasian Union - Belarus

Back in 2014, Belarus and Russia were part of a five country agreement called the Eurasian Union.  This union was to go into effect on January 1, 2015.  Before the plan went into effect, Belarus and Russia both enacted ADDITIONAL regulations at their borders.  Belarus added additional regulations on dairy and meat from Russia.  In turn, Russia banned all dairy imports from Belarus.  This signaled that, while the two countries both agreed to the union, it was more of “window dressing” and were not completely committed to opening up trade between the two countries.  This has led to increased sanctions between the two countries and the essentially the end of the Eurasian Union.  Lawmakers are returning to the negotiation table to see about working out a new agreement. [1] 

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[1] Belarus Digest. Astapena Ryhor. December 11, 2014. Belarus Reinstates Customs Control on the Border with Russia: the End of the Eurasian Union? belarusdigest.com/story/belarus-reinstates-customs-control-border-russia-end-eurasian-union-20726

Foreign Trade Zones - Norway

Norway has no foreign trade zones and does not plan to establish any.[1] While Norway has trade agreements with many countries and supports many American companies, it is more focused on the financial well-being of their own company and corporations.  By doing this, Norway is trying to limit the amount of foreign goods that are brought into the country. 

The government collects the revenue from these items.  This may have a lot to do with the wealth that Norway has as a country.  They have continually shown progressive actions to protect their country and its population.  Looks like they will continue to offer these benefits for the foreseeable future.  

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[1] U.S. Department of State, Diplomacy in Action. Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs. 2011 Investment Climate Statement – Norway. March 2011. www.state.gov/e/eb/rls/othr/ics/2011/157338.htm

Belarus Turnkey Projects

Belarus is looking to Russia for turnkey projects, but not in the form of factories or plants.  The Architecture and Construction Ministry of Belarus has been tasked with finding ways to increase their production and that included looking at working out of the country.  These turnkey projects would be in the form of housing and urban planning projects.  One of the largest exports that Belarus sends to Russia, specifically Pskov Oblast, is building products.  These projects would help create more opportunities for the people of Pskov Oblast along with some much-needed infrastructure.

Export Strategy for Belgium

There are over 400 companies that export chocolate from Belgium.  Twenty-five percent of them handle only chocolate, while the remaining seventy-fiver percent are more diversified and involved in equipment, chemicals, etc. 

Over 400 companies.  This must be easy, right?  Many of the companies us trial and error when expanding into foreign markets.  The supply certain products in hope that something will stick.  They track sales and quickly move to the next product if one is failing. If a particular product is selling well in a few areas, they really begin to push it on to the market.  An article by Filip Abraham describes this process.  The link here, https://www.vlerick.com/en/research-and-faculty/knowledge-items/knowledge/the-success-of-belgian-chocolate-export is to a website that describes this process and calls this a “beachhead.”  

A beachhead is the second step in the expansion process.  “This happens when the exporting firm starts selling large volumes of the chocolate product in a specific geographic market. The beachhead is strengthened when the firm sells the same product in more and more destinations.”  This lowers costs (shipping/storage) and increases revenue.  A true win, win for the company!

Once they have established the market for their product, the company needs to maintain it with selling valuable products at a reasonable cost to the customer.  They can also be looking for new markets to grow into, to further expand their reach.