Products manufactured in Joplin and Webb City are being sold all over the world and could help Missouri set a state record for export sales this year.

Fred Cox, vice president for sales and marketing at Cardinal Scale Manufacturing Co. in Webb City, said the company sells its truck and medical scales worldwide.

“They buy our products because they are USA-made and it represents quality, the quality that our craftsmen, engineers and employees at the factory put out,” said Cox, noting that the company’s exports are up.

The company recently signed a deal for its medical scales with a distributor in Russia.

EaglePicher Technologies, which manufactures batteries for space and military applications, also has seen its export business grow in the past year.

“Exports are an important part of our business,” said Emily Russell, with EaglePicher. “It’s up a little this year. We export batteries for military applications. Because they are used for military purposes, we have to file licenses. We have seen an increase in the filing of licenses.”

Overall, exports represent about 20 to 25 percent of EaglePicher’s business.

Gov. Jay Nixon recently reported that Missouri exports were up nearly 6 percent through the first two quarters of 2012 when compared with the total for the first two quarters of 2011, a year in which Missouri set a record for export sales revenue.

Missouri’s export revenues for the first six months of 2012 reached $7.5 billion, according to data from the Commerce Department. At the current rate of growth, the state is projected to reach nearly $15 billion in annual export sales revenue, surpassing 2011’s record total of $14.1 billion.

If a state export record is set, it would be the third consecutive year of export growth after the recession of 2009, when Missouri’s exports dropped to $9.5 billion after reaching $12.8 billion in 2008.

The rate of growth, however, has slowed because of a cooling global economy, especially in Europe. The export growth rate last year was 13.5 percent. In 2010, it was 35 percent.

“Selling more Missouri-made goods overseas means more jobs here at home,” Nixon said. “Through the first two quarters of 2012, we are on pace to break last year’s record of $14.1 billion in export sales revenue. I commend the hard work of Missouri farmers, businesses and entrepreneurs for their continued success in increasing Missouri exports to new record levels.”

Canada, Mexico and China are Missouri’s largest export markets. Top exported Missouri commodities include vehicles, industrial equipment, electric machinery and food.

Last October, Nixon led a delegation of more than 60 Missouri business and agricultural leaders to China to close a series of agreements to sell $4.6 billion in Missouri goods to Chinese consumers, increasing Missouri’s exports to China by more than $1 billion over the next three years.

The governor also led an official trade mission to Brazil in April of this year, signing the state’s first-ever trade agreement with the state of Sao Paulo, the financial capital of one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

Cardinal Scale, the state’s Exporter of the Year in 2008, is growing its markets in Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, South America and the Middle East, Cox said.

“The export business that leaves our area brings revenue and income into our area,” Cox said. “Many buyers, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia where they are building new hospitals, insist that they only want USA-made products. It is so important to them that they want ‘Made in USA’ embossed into non-removable areas.”

That identification, he said, is important because of inferior copies of Cardinal Scale products that are on the market.

“A recent success for us was the sale of our Detecto medical scales in Russia,” Cox said. “It was approved in Russia. A new distributor places a large order with us.”

The company, which started in 1950 and employs about 400 people, recently sold 40 truck scales in connection with the rebuilding of post-war Iraq.

Said Cox: “It is one avenue of growth for Cardinal Scale. It continues to grow each year, and it’s a significant part of our business.”





St. Louis area



ABOUT TWO-THIRDS of Missouri’s exports come from the St. Louis metropolitan area.