Bill for China trade mission tops $72,000
Biggest expenditure was airfare for traveling party; not all bills in yet
Byline: George Hohmann, Daily Mail Business Editor
The state spent more than $72,000 on Gov. Joe Manchin's trade mission to China, according to the West Virginia Department of Commerce.
An additional $25,000 in state money was invested in a coal show in Beijing that Manchin and other trade mission participants attended, according to the department.
There were eight people in the state delegation: Gov. Manchin; first lady Gayle Manchin; Chief of Staff Larry Puccio; State Police Sgt. Mike Comer and Corporal James Light; West Virginia Development Office Executive Director Steve Spence; Development Office International Trade Manager Debra Martin; and Development Office International Trade Representative Caitlin Ashley.
The biggest expense was airfare. The Manchins, Puccio and Light flew business class to and from China. The cost was $8,240 each - a total of $32,960, according to information provided to the Commerce Department by National Travel.
Comer, Spence, Martin and Ashley flew standard fare, the lowest fare available, to and from China. The cost was $1,897.50 each, for a total of $7,590.
The international portion of the journey began and ended at Chicago. Commerce Department spokeswoman Kim Harbour said the Manchins, Puccio and Light flew on a state aircraft from Charleston to Chicago and back at a cost of $4,610.
The cost of getting the other state employees from Charleston to Chicago and back is included in the figures provided by National Travel, she said. The exception was Spence, who came back to Chicago but stayed there several days for a trade show.
Everyone flew in the same travel class inside China. The total for intra-China air travel was $2,186.24, according to the information provided to the Commerce Department by National Travel.
Hotels cost a total of $13,507.
As for food, Harbour said the hotel rooms included breakfast and in many cases dinner was provided because the state executives were attending banquets. There were a few miscellaneous lunches and dinners and taxi rides.
"People haven't completed their expense reports yet so we won't have these miscellaneous meals and taxi fares for another few weeks," she said.
Other miscellaneous mission expenses totaled about $12,000, the Commerce Department said. These included a reception hosted by Manchin in Beijing, ground transportation for the delegation in Shanghai, and interpreters.
The state has been a regular exhibitor at the China Coal & Mining Exhibition since 1999, when the show was established in Beijing. The show is held every two years.
The $25,000 invested by the state in the show this year included booth space rental, interpreters and advertising - including a huge banner that was displayed across the front of the exterior entrance to the show.
About 40 executives of West Virginia coal equipment manufacturers and a few spouses participated in all or parts of the mission.
Spence, through Harbour, said the companies invested more than $100,000 of their own money, "making this a true public-private effort to promote the state's industry."
In a conference call with reporters from Beijing on Nov. 5, Manchin said, "It's been a great trip. We've made a lot of contacts. I think we've created a lot of opportunity for West Virginia businesses that already do business here. We've also had some new businesses on this trip and I think they have opportunities, too."
Mark Carter, vice president of Swanson Industries, Inc., was one of the participating executives. Swanson is a Morgantown-based supplier of hydraulic, machining and plating services.
In a Nov. 7 guest column in the Daily Mail, Carter said the mission "has exceeded our expectations." He said the West Virginia booth was in the front row at the International Hall. "Our company came prepared, but by mid-day we were running out of our main Chinese brochures, and every single business card was given out," he said. More brochures and business cards were ordered for delivery the next day.
"West Virginia is clearly recognized as a major leader in the mining industry in the worldwide marketplace," Carter said. "This trade mission has solidified many new relationships for the exchange of business. We knew there were major opportunities for West Virginia companies here, but I don't think anyone realized what a major player West Virginia is, and can be."
In a Nov. 9 guest column in the Daily Mail, P.L. "Judge" McWhorter, a consultant for Phillips Machine of Beckley, said, "Were it not for the state development office, our company and several others might still be trying to figure out how to get our corporate feet in the door here."
Phillips now had a number of underground coal shuttle cars operating in China, as well as a joint venture repair and manufacturing company.
McWhorter said the 2007 show was loaded with coal mining equipment made in China.
"In previous shows the workmanship and uniqueness of design of the Chinese equipment left a lot to be desired," he said. "The gap between Chinese equipment and foreign - that is to say, non-Chinese - mining equipment has been steadily diminishing over the eight years since these shows began. However, the pace of Chinese machine improvement has dramatically increased in just the last two years. This show should be a wake-up call for all non-Chinese manufacturers, including my company, Phillips Machine. Any non-Chinese company that just sits on its self-perceived laurels will be left in the dust!"
McWhorter also said: "The presence and participation of our governor, Joe Manchin, in the opening ceremonies of this show, as well as the preceding business discussions with top government and private company officials in several important Chinese locations, has, as the Chinese say, left a very favorable impression here in China. This can only help West Virginia taxpayers and West Virginia manufacturers in the long run."
Another highlight of the trip was a banquet in Shanghai with graduates of the Center for Chinese Business, a program established in 1994 by West Virginia University's College of Business and Economics. The center offers a six-month program for Chinese to come to Morgantown to study business and economics.
Stephen Sears, Dr. of the college, participated in the Shanghai portion of the trip with several faculty members who affiliated with the center. Those costs are not included in the figures provided by the state Department of Commerce.
"We paid for our part of the trip, as we do whenever we go to China - which is pretty frequently," said Tim Terman, College of Business and Economics spokesman. While Sears was in China he signed a memorandum of understanding with several institutions and businesses to provide educational programs to that country, Terman said.
Another trip highlight was a visit to Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province, which is China's major coal-producing region.
Manchin said during his Nov. 5 conference call with reporters that he wants to make a return trip to visit Shenhua Coal Group's 25,000-barrel-a-day coal liquefaction plant in Inner Mongolia.
In December 2005, Manchin vowed to have a coal liquefaction plant built in the state "by the end of my first term," which is January 2009.
Contact writer George Hohmann at business@dailymail.com or 304-348-4836.