Ex-Im Bank Approves Export Financing For Sale of U.S. Recycling Equipment to Turkey

WASHINGTON, July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- A New Jersey small business is selling equipment and technology to Turkey to build an innovative plant that recycles metal and in the process recovers gas and produces electricity.  A portion of the export sale by Chinook Sciences LLC, Cranford, N.J. to Turkish buyer DT Metal Geri Kazanim Teknolojileri Sanayi ve Ticaret AS (DT Metal) is backed by a $10 million medium-term loan from Northstar Trade Finance, Inc., Houston, Texas.  The loan is guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank).

"This transaction is a perfect example of how high-quality U.S. exports can benefit buyers in the dynamic Turkish economy, as well as Turkey's environment, and at the same time support U.S. jobs," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. "President Obama's successful visit to Ankara in April 2009 encouraged closer cooperation in our bilateral commercial relationship, and U.S. Ex-Im is pleased to support these efforts under the U.S.-Turkey Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation. We look forward to more mutually beneficial transactions with Turkey."  

Hochberg made the statement during a business development trip to Turkey to promote the availability of Ex-Im Bank financing for Turkish buyers, particularly in the energy, transportation, communication and medical sectors.  

Using Chinook's patented RODECS gasification technology, Turkey's DT Metal can clean off organic metal coatings such as plastic, rubber, oil, lacquer and paint, and break them down into component molecules of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which form a synthetic gas (Syngas). The Syngas is burned for steam generation and converted to electricity.    

"Together with DT Metal, we are building the first plant in the world that recycles metal and at the same time recovers the energy and produces electricity," said Chinook President Dr. Rifat Chalabi.  "Chinook's state-of-the-art RODECS technology not only will enable the plant to have net electricity production, but also will promote recycling in an environmentally correct way that meets all European and U.S. emission requirements.  Hence the DT plant in Turkey is referred to as Green Plant."   Chalabi said the transaction would help Chinook continue to expand its workforce in the U.S. and enable Turkey, a net importer of aluminum, to produce the metal domestically.

It is Northstar's ninth transaction under a new Ex-Im Bank initiative that delegates authority to lenders, enabling the banks to speed approval of Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed medium-term export loans to foreign buyers of U.S. goods.

"This program really works," said Northstar Executive Vice President Craig MacKenzie.  "The medium-term delegated authority program has proven to be creative and competitive, providing quick access to trade finance for small and medium enterprises.  The delegated authority program has helped to improve delivery, making a clear competitive advantage to businesses needing financing fast.  Northstar can effectively respond to customers' financing applications in days or weeks, versus months.  We're extremely happy with how the program is working."

During his trip to Ankara and Istanbul, Hochberg is meeting with key government and business leaders, including members of the Ministry of Transportation and Communication, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, and the Municipality of Istanbul, to discuss ways to facilitate U.S. exports to Turkey.  

Ex-Im Bank, an independent, self-sustaining federal-government agency, helps to create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in export financing and strengthening U.S. export competitiveness. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees to help small and medium-sized U.S. businesses, export-credit insurance to protect against nonpayment by foreign buyers, and loan guarantees and direct loans to assist foreign buyers of U.S. goods and services.

In fiscal 2009, overall Ex-Im Bank financing totaled $21 billion, and authorizations supporting small-business exports reached a historic high of $4.4 billion, nearly 21 percent of total authorizations.  In the first nine months of fiscal 2010 (through June 2010), Ex-Im Bank authorized $17.4 billion in loans, guarantees and insurance – more than total authorizations for all of 2008. For more information, see Ex-Im Bank's Web site at www.exim.gov.

SOURCE Export-Import Bank of the United States