The Miami metropolitan area was ranked the fifth largest export market in the U.S. in 2010 and now in 2012 the U.S. Department of Commerce has announced the establishment of PortMiami as a new Foreign-Trade Zone.
Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZs) were created in the United States to provide special customs procedures to U.S. plants engaged in international trade-related activities. Duty-free treatment is accorded items that are processed in FTZs and then re-exported, and duty payment is deferred on items until they are brought out of the FTZ for sale in the U.S. market. This helps to offset customs advantages available to overseas producers who compete with domestic industry. The Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) Board (composed of representatives from the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Treasury) has its operational staff in the International Trade Administration's Import Administration.
This move is designed to help improve American businesses’ competitive advantage in the global economy especially in Metropolitan Miami. Some businesses that stand to gain the most advantage are companies that specialize in Logistics, Freight Forwarding, Imports and Exports and Warehousing.
The PortMiami trade zone stretches from Southwest Eighth Street to Broward County line. This new FTZ will be one of the nation’s first to operate under new, streamlined processes. U.S. businesses that operate within a FTZ can receiving cost reducing benefits such as warehousing and re-export products duty free. The goal is to help businesses become more globally competitive.
With this new FTZ , Metropolitan Miami and especially PortMaimi anticipates an increase in business for Logistics companies, Freight Forwarders, Import/Export companies as well as the local economy overall.
In a tough economy, FTZs are a powerful mechanism to keep good jobs in the United States and to advance manufacturing not just Miami but all of Florida.
The benefits of FTZs are tailor-made for Miami, as their Customs District leads the nation in producing a trade surplus, exporting 1.5 times what they import. Yet, despite the natural linkage between South Florida’s international trading patterns and the benefits of FTZ designation, they have been greatly under-represented in the number and size of FTZ sites across the country.
As reported recently by the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones, impressive growth in merchandise received in, and exports from, foreign trade zones has outpaced comparable growth in the overall U.S. economy as the nation continues to recover from a devastating recession; Miami-PortMiami is now poised to reap the significant economic benefits of FTZs.