2016.05.28
Okinawan businesses’ expansion to overseas markets sluggish
Kaiho Research Institute, Ltd. reported May 25th that of 328 companies with regular transactions outside Okinawa, only 53 (16.2%) have expanded their business overseas, led by the 380-million yen increase in beer sales followed by sea cucumber sales that cashed in ¥100 million more.
Of the 53 companies, 84.9% say that they aim to expand and further develop their overseas business, and 44 said that they aim to establish overseas market routes in the future.
Kaiho Research Institute analysis regarding various domestic products’ distribution and support measures to overseas markets, such as the Hub International distribution system, sees increasing profits from expanded business in overseas markets for newly entering companies can be expected in the near future.
The top three countries for the sales of the 53 Okinawa companies are Taiwan, which counts for the most, China and Hong Kong. 73% of the companies say overseas demand has continuously surpassed domestic.
The future concerns are increasing cost of logistics and insufficient capacity for the markets. In addition, geographic issues and capitalization could be a problem for expanding overseas business as well. To overcome those obstacles, specifying and exact launching target and obtaining a capable business partner, holding exhibitions and providing business information in the sales area may be necessary to consider for those companies aiming at overseas markets.