By Kevin Lavery, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-856742.mp3
LANSING, MI – The federal government has approved the Capital Region International airport's request for designation as a foreign trade zone.
The designation from the U.S. Commerce Department was nearly a year in the making. Brent Case directs Lansing's foreign trade zone. He says this status means local companies will not have to pay duties on import products until they ship them out of the foreign trade zone.
"You can imagine if they're using some of these raw materials in their manufacturing process, they would only have to take what they need and only pay for the duties and the taxes at that time, which frees up a lot of cash," he says. "It really helps their cash flow situation."
Case says companies don't have to pay any duties on imported raw materials that they then export as finished goods.