A growing number of companies are showing interest in the foreign trade zone since Orange County rekindled marketing efforts months ago, according to Economic Development Director Steven Gross.
One timber production company in Broome County just made an application to join the zone.
Meanwhile, a food manufacturing company in Port Jervis is considering making its space available as an approved storage center for other businesses in the zone, Gross said.
Established by the federal government, a foreign trade zone allows businesses to import and store (or manufacture) goods and delay paying tariffs until the finished products leave the zone.
Participating businesses often receive the benefit of reduced or exempted duties.
The main purpose of a foreign trade zone is to encourage value-added manufacturing activities in the United States, according to Elizabeth Whiteman, senior analyst on the Foreign Tade Zones Board.
“We want to keep the employment here, we want to keep the activities here, and, of course, it helps with state and local economic development,” Whiteman said during a recent webinar that informed local businesses of the Orange County foreign trade zone.
As of now, the county foreign trade zone has three active business participants: Harriman-based Takasago International Corp., Goshen-based Konica Minolta, and the Fishkill-based Gap Distribution Center.
All three have spaces on their own properties approved for use as part of the county foreign trade zone, with $1 billion worth of imported goods received last year.
Orange County Economic Development Director Steven Gross at his office in Goshen, N.Y., on May 22, 2023. Cara Ding/The Epoch Times
“The zone has more potential than is being used,” Gross told The Epoch Times. “Now as we are trying to bring back advanced manufacturing back to our country more than ever before and it makes a lot of sense to let people know it is in the toolbox if they want to use it.”
He said the county intends to use it as an incentive to attract new manufacturing companies.
He added that the county foreign trade zone is unique in that it is allowed to offer benefits to businesses in any other county in New York without such a zone.
While the county currently has no zone site where businesses can store their imported goods, efforts are being made to locate one, according to Gross.
The Orange County foreign trade zone was established by the federal government in May 1978 to boost the economy in the Newburgh and New Windsor areas, which were adversely affected by the closure of the Stewart Air Force Base years prior.
It began with two sites: Regal Distribution Center, adjacent to the airport, and the Sage Building on the airport’s grounds.
In the 1980s, Bally Inc. and General Motors joined the zone.
“It started in the ‘70s and took off in the ’80s, and in the ‘90s, it kind of slowed, and then it had a little boost in the early 2000s,” Gross said. “We are really trying to kick it into gear right now and the phone does keep ringing from companies that are interested.”
