Financing Your Exports

If you're looking to do your bit to lower the U.S. trade deficit, but you can't locate anyone to finance your leap into foreign markets, here are a couple of information sources that might help. Export Today magazine (202-737-1060) offers its 1992 Resource Guide ($5.95), which has statistical surveys of global export activities; a list of alternative financing sources, complete with names, phone numbers, and preferred type of transaction; and a special section on financing exports in a tight credit environment.

For basic information on export finance, check out International Trade Finance: A Guidebook for Growth Companies, edited by Gordon Platt ( Journal of Commerce, 800-336-1821, $15). The 34-page booklet was written by three officers of MTB Banking Corp., in New York City. Mercifully, however, there's little self-promotion. Also, the booklet has a 10-page glossary of trade-finance terms.

-- Bruce G. Posner