Fred Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, was in Des Moines this morning to pitch his agency’s services as a playing-field leveler for small businesses seeking to broaden their export activity.

In a stop at Paper Systems Inc. in Des Moines, Hochberg toured the family-owned company’s 50,000-square-foot warehouse, where it stores thousands of the specialized cardboard containers it manufactures and ships to customers globally. Ranging in size from 110 to 330 gallons, the company’s drumlike plastic-lined “EZ-Bulk” containers resemble two-person hot tubs that carry products as diverse as Iowa wine and Argentine honey. The company’s shipping containers are used in approximately 80 countries worldwide.

Paper Systems is among more than 50 Iowa companies that have used the Ex-Im Bank’s services in the past five years; in that time, the agency has authorized financing to support approximately $180 million worth of exports by those Iowa companies. The agency said that 93 percent of the financing it provided in Iowa this past fiscal year directly benefited small businesses.

Hochberg also spoke during a breakfast event in Des Moines earlier today with members of the Iowa District Export Council before going on to Cedar Rapids.

Congress will consider in June whether to reauthorize funding for the Ex-Im Bank, which serves as the official export credit agency for the United States. The agency has come under fire in the past year from some conservative Republicans in Congress who argue that the bank’s services distort the market, serve special interests and benefit large multinational corporations that don’t need the financing.

“We’ve been reauthorized 16 times in the past 80 years,” Hochberg said following the tour at Paper Systems. “Yes, we have a little bit of controversy now, but I think that we’re trying to get the word out on companies like Paper Systems to better understand how we can serve small businesses. 

“Last year, we financed the shipping of over $27 billion in goods; over $10 billion of that was directly from small businesses, so almost 40 percent came from small businesses, more than from any other category in the mix,” Hochberg said.

The agency said its financing has supported the creation of approximately 164,000 jobs across the country in the past year. “Ninety percent of our customers are small businesses – and we’re talking about jobs,” Hochberg said, noting that Paper Systems in the past year added six jobs in part due to its export activity.

Using the Ex-Im Bank’s trade credit insurance program for the past 15 years has enabled Paper Systems to bill foreign customers after they’ve received a shipment of its containers, rather than having to require upfront cash payments prior to a 38- to 45-day shipping wait. Paper Systems pays a premium based on the value of the shipments to the customer for the coverage.

“It’s a program that we pay for, but it allows us to sleep well at night because we know the receivables are insured,” said Kevin Stuart, Paper Systems’ marketing director. “It’s a very important in the trust factor. If you’re in D.C. and I’m in Des Moines, there’s a trust. But if someone’s in Argentina and you’re in Des Moines, you have to step it up another notch.”

Stuart said exports currently make up about 10 percent of his company’s overall business, which is growing by about 7 to 10 percent annually. The pace of sales growth is about equal, however, between international and domestic sales, he said.

In many instances, Paper Systems’ container shipments spur further export activity by both U.S. and overseas companies that fill their containers with their products and ship them to other countries, Stuart said. “So our exports allow their exports to happen, and they are in turn generating more jobs for their companies,” he said.

For more information about the Export-Import Bank’s services, visitwww.exim.gov.