The Greater Des Moines Partnership is looking for a few Central Iowa manufacturers that could benefit from using a foreign trade zone.

Partnership officials are renewing their efforts to spur the use of a largely dormant trade zone located in Clive, and say that opportunities exist for creating new subzones that companies could use.

“We definitely want to create a lot more subzones,” said Scott Spreen, director of the Partnership’s international trade office. “There’s a lot of manufacturing in the area, and they could have benefits in using those.”

A trade zone workshop sponsored by the Partnership on Aug. 8 attracted about 30 participants. About half of those were company representatives, with the remainder local economic development officials. Spreen said he’s currently working with five companies that have expressed interest in the program.

Greater Des Moines’ foreign trade zone, a designated warehouse space located at 10400 Hickman Road, has been sparsely used since it was established in 1984. A subzone established at the same time by Winnebago Industries Inc. at its Forest City manufacturing plant, however, has provided significant savings to the company, say Winnebago officials.

A foreign trade zone is an area within the United States, in or near a U.S. Customs port of entry, where foreign and domestic merchandise is considered to be outside U.S. Customs’ territory. Use of the zone can allow companies engaged in international trade to reduce, defer or possibly eliminate duties on certain products.

In fiscal year 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available, foreign trade zones handled $305 billion in goods, up from $247 billion the previous fiscal year. Of that activity, 84 percent took place within subzone sites, which has been a consistent trend for the past 15 years, according to the Foreign Trade Zone Board’s annual report to Congress.

The Partnership had considered establishing a second general-purpose zone in Grinnell nearly three years ago, but that effort “went nowhere,” said Spreen. The fact that it was a general-purpose warehouse site, rather than a subzone dedicated to a specific manufacturer, may have been the reason it didn’t work, he said.

A manufacturing consultant based in southeast Iowa said a lack of awareness about the foreign trade zone program is why more businesses don’t use them.

“I think it’s just a matter of retraining them a little bit about what’s out there,” said Mike Delaney, a consultant with QM Consulting Inc. in West Point. “I think it’s a great resource.” None of his clients use the program, he said, because none are importing parts from outside the United States.

Businesses that use the program would pay a one-time application and activation fee totaling $5,000, and $5,000 in annual fees to the Partnership. Those fees would be used to promote the trade zone and to provide educational seminars, Spreen said.

Under previous agreements between Winnebago and the non-profit corporation established by the Partnership to administer the foreign-trade zone, Winnebago had reimbursed the corporation for the operating costs incurred for the subzone, such as insurance and legal fees. The latest agreement expired in June, and the Partnership is now negotiating with the company regarding future fees, he said.

For more information regarding the use of foreign trade zones, contact Scott Spreen at 286-4950, or by e-mail at spreen@desmoinesmetro.com.