JobsOhio and APEG conducted an exploratory trade mission to the Shandong province in China in late November and early December, APEG’s first visit to the country.
The province has over 100 million residents and is home to a concentration of Chinese chemical companies. During the visit, JobsOhio and APEG representatives met with nine different Chinese chemical companies.
Company research and appointments were set up using OCO Global, an international firm which specializes in connecting foreign companies who want to explore bringing manufacturing to the U.S. OCO is JobsOhio’s representative in Asia.
”As a result of the trip, we have a large project opportunity that had been focused on the Gulf and Mississippi River regions that now has an interest in looking in Ohio.”
Mike Jacoby, VP Business Development
“They had not been aware of the remarkable competitive advantages from natural gas and natural gas liquids from shale in our region. Now they are very intrigued about locating their new operation in the APEG region,” said Jacoby.
He said the trip also worked to reinforce a project currently under consideration in another region of Ohio and noted several longer-term leads were developed. The APEG region has no Chinese-owned companies.
Foreign Direct Investment
Along with growing existing companies, attracting new companies to Ohio and the APEG region is a major focus of economic development yielding Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Ohio is well experienced in FDI and global business. Honda was the first foreign company to build cars in the U.S. The Japanese-based automaker is responsible for 15,000 direct jobs and approximately 15,000 more in its Ohio supply chain.
JobsOhio was instrumental in Fuyao Glass America’s decision to locate in the Dayton area. The Chinese automotive glassmaker purchased a vacant General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, and invested $450 million to create the largest automotive glass fabrication plant in the world. The plant opened last fall with 2,000 employees and plans to add another 500.
“The U.S. leads the A. T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index,” said Kristi Tanner, senior managing director at JobsOhio and southern Ohio native. “That means overseas business executives are optimistic that our economy and our workforce can improve their overall business.”
China is home to about one of every six people on the planet and the country is going through a tremendous industrial revolution. JobsOhio leadership believes China is a country with which Ohio needs to be building relationships.
“Everywhere we went we saw tower cranes,” Jacoby said. “I was told more than half the building construction in the world is happening in China. Large Chinese companies are directed by their government to ‘go out’ to the world to learn markets and technologies that are transferable to improve and modernize the economy in China.
“This is an opportunity for Ohio. The Fuyao Glass project in Dayton already put Ohio on the map for Chinese Foreign Direct Investment. Our goal is to win more Chinese FDI.”
Current FDI
The Appalachian Partnership region has 49 foreign-owned companies operating in its 25 JobsOhio counties. They represent 20 different countries and have facilities in 18 counties.
Ohio is home to nearly 3,600 international businesses representing 47 countries and employing 224,000 people. Among the largest are Honda, Fiat Chrysler, BASF, Siemens, Kao Brands, and Nestlé.
Combining import and export (all of international trade) the number of jobs increase exponentially – 1.5 million Ohio jobs, nearly 20 percent of all Ohio workers.
In 2015, the value of Ohio goods sold internationally was $52.6 billion.
