USDA provides online tool for U.S. food exporters

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Trade Lead System provides U.S. exporters access to information about potential foreign sales opportunities.    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service has launched a new online system to connect the country’s food and agricultural product exporters with potential customers overseas.
   The Trade Lead System provides U.S. exporters with access to information about potential foreign sales opportunities. International buyers can also use the system to search for potential suppliers of U.S. farm and food products.
   “This free-of-charge system offers any company, small or large, new to exporting or already exporting, a real-time way of learning what agricultural or food products are being sought by foreign buyers,” Christian Foster, the Foreign Agricultural Service’s deputy administrator for the Office of Trade Programs, said in a statement.
   All potential sales leads are reviewed by FAS international offices and distributed through the system to all registered users, as well as to nearly 100 U.S. agricultural trade associations and their members, individual state departments of agriculture, and the state regional trade groups that partner with USDA to promote agricultural exports, the agency said.
   “U.S. suppliers can select the types of leads they wish to receive, and can respond to the purchase requests in several ways,” Foster added. “They can correspond directly with the customer, work through their trade association, or receive support from one of 96 international FAS offices, which are ready to assist with translation and other services.”