Nixon touts European trade tour during Cape Girardeau stop

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon made a stop Monday at Cape Girardeau cement producer Buzzi Unicem USA on a statewide tour to detail a European trade mission.

Nixon and others leave later this week for the weeklong trip to Germany, Italy and Spain.

"We're using this trade mission to build on our export successes and to attract additional foreign investment with a special emphasis on our all-important manufacturing sector," Nixon said during his appearance at the company, which is Italian-owned and has an additional Missouri plant in Jefferson County.

Gov. Jay Nixon talks to employees of Buzzi Unicem after his news conference Monday, March 16, 2015 in Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

A delegation including Nixon; first lady Georgeanne Nixon; directors of the state economic development and agriculture departments; Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles; House Speaker John Diehl, R-Town and Country; two other state representatives and private industry employees are going on the trip.

Nixon said part of the state's economic development strategy is to promote investment in Missouri by foreign companies and to export more goods.

As governor, Nixon also has traveled on trade missions to China, Korea, Brazil, Taiwan and Canada, which he said resulted in agreements to sell nearly $10 billion in Missouri-made products.

In 2014, exports of merchandise from Missouri reached $14.1 billion, an increase of $1.2 billion over the previous year, according to a report released last month by the U.S. Department of Commerce. After 2012, last year also was the state's second-highest year for exports, Nixon said Monday.

Exports to the three countries the trade delegation plans to visit totaled over $577 million in 2014, with Germany ranking seventh as an international trade partner, Italy 17th and Spain 32nd, according to a news release from Nixon's office.

The governor also planned stops to tout the trade mission Monday at Masterclock, a St. Charles maker of synchronized digital and analog clocks sold to large industries and government entities, and at a German-owned BASF chemical manufacturing facility in Palmyra, Missouri. Nixon will meet with representatives of the Buzzi Unicem and BASF companies while in Europe to discuss expanding their international investments and with other companies that do not yet have a presence in Missouri.

Advanced manufacturing in the automobile sector is one potential area for growth in international investment, Nixon said, adding Missouri has seen recent expansions by Ford, General Motors and other companies.

"We're seeing as those supply lines are built out, those international players really want to play," Nixon said.

Data from the commerce department's International Trade Administration recently showed the leading sectors in Missouri's goods exports during 2014 as transportation equipment, chemicals and food and kindred products.

Nixon said he sees the face-to-face meetings with international industry representatives as the most effective means to boost exports and foreign investment.

During trade missions, Nixon focuses on communicating Missouri's advantages, which he said include "a central location, a transportation system with options to move goods by water, rail and roads, a good business climate and a skilled and educated workforce."

The U.S. Department of Commerce also reported recently Missouri exports supported about 70,000 jobs in 2013, and the increase in exports to more than $14 billion was a 9 percent rise from 2013.

The potential for increased exports of agricultural products to Cuba also has been a recent focus of the governor, economic development officials and industry leaders. Nixon dropped plans to travel to Cuba on a trade mission earlier this month so he could attend funeral arrangements for Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich. Georgeanne Nixon and agricultural industry representatives went on the Cuba trip as planned.

Both trade mission trips are being paid for by the Hawthorn Foundation, a not-for-profit economic development promotion group.

eragan@semissourian.com

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