The 海角视频 domestic market is hugely important but to really grow many firms need to look beyond their geographical borders.
The 30 'export champions' featured here are just a few of the many export-focused businesses that operate in Wales
All the SMEs to larger corporate featured are driving impressive export growth.
They include a producer of organic milk for sale in the Middle East and an innovative portable lift manufacturer whose customers include the Vatican.
The value of exports for Wales for the year ending September 2018 was £16.9bn, up £500m (3%) compared with the same period the previous year.
1. Aerfin
based in Caerphilly.
It supports aircraft operators and lessors globally providing a range of services, including leasing contracts, technical consulting, as well as trading and supplying equipment from entire aircraft through to components and engines.
Aerfin opened a warehouse distribution centre in Singapore, in July 2016, which allowed it to store aircraft component inventory in the Asian-Pacific region.
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Between 2015-17 it achieved a massive 664% average growth rate in its international sale, making it the 海角视频's fastest growing privately-owned exporter.
2. Airborne Systems
Airborne Systems has been making parachutes for almost a century.
Based in Llangeinor, near Bridgend, it supplies, along with the 海角视频 military, armed forced and companies around the world with parachutes that allow ejector seats to fall safely to earth.
Its technology also enables goods and boats to be dropped safely from the air and the braking parachutes for the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The firm also makes the parachutes which help deploy life rafts and survival equipment into the sea.
The company has also supplied parachutes for Hollywood action films.
3. CPR Global Tech
Swansea-based CPR Global Tech was awarded a 2018 Queen’s Award in the International Trade category in recognition for its success in overseas markets.
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It manufactures the CPR Call Blocker range of products, the global bestseller of standalone call blocking technology.
Andrew Sandbrook started the company in 2010 in response to the growing problem of nuisance calls in the 海角视频. The telecommunications company’s aim was to produce technology that puts the consumer back in control of their privacy without the need to change their telephone numbers.
It now has fulfilment centres in Europe, Australia, Canada, the United States and South America.
4. Cintec
Concrete ties used to reinforce and strengthen buildings ranging from Egyptian pyramids to American skyscrapers originated in Newport.
Cintec is far bigger outside the 海角视频 than within, its main markets are in the Middle and Far East.
Founded in 1984, originally called Cavity Lock Systems, and now has independent but collaborative engineering design and consulting companies based in Canada, USA, Australia and India.
Last year, managing director Peter James released a book called Saving the Pyramids, explaining the structural engineering of ancient Egypt.
5. Cokebusters
Cokebusters expanded its business into the Middle East for the first time last year after securing a £7.5m contract in the region.
The company, a world leader in decoking and inspection operations, has seen its sales rise by 41% in the last two years to more than £6m, thanks to export sales, which make up 95% of its sales.
The Hawarden-based manufacturing firm currently exports to more than 20 countries all over the world, including the USA, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Greece, Kuwait, Italy and Spain, with its engineers travelling to oil refineries across the world.
Alongside Cokebusters’ headquarters in north Wales, which employs 35 people, the company also has a base in the USA.
6. Concrete Canvas
Pontypridd-basedConcrete Canvas has developed 'building in a bag' technology that only requires water and air for construction.
Used in applications such as lining ditches, it can be installed 10 times faster than conventional concrete
Its products are exported to more than 80 countries, through a network of over 40 international sales partners. Last year it generated sales of around £11m, with more than 80% derived from export sales, with another year of strong growth forecast for 2019.
The firm now employs over 50 people in six offices across the globe, the most recent of which to be opened being Milan and the UAE.
7. Creo Medical
Listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), Chesptow-based Creo Medical is a world leader manufacturer of non invasive surgery medical devices.
In the summer just gone Creo was looking to raise £20m through the issuing of new shares, such was the demand the firm raised £50m.
Creo, in which the Development Bank of Wales is also an investor - from previous investments made by its predecessor Finance Wales - is focused on the emerging field of surgical endoscopy.
The funding raised will be used in a number of areas, including accelerating the roll out of it products and targeting the lucrative US marketplace where it will establish a presence.
It will also allow Creo to increase the number of distribution agreements it has with third parties worldwide.
8. Cyden
Cyden designs and manufactures IPL (intense pulsed light) hair removal products for use in the home.]
The Swansea-based company begun its life making devices for professional salons.
From launching the first IPL hair removal device in the 海角视频 with the retailer Boots, its products are now distributed to more than 30 firms worldwide.
It recently opened its first overseas office in Tokyo.
It has also brought manufacturing back to Swansea from the Far East.
9. Daioni Organic
Exports from Daioni, which has products that range from fresh to UHT/long-life, are now at approximately 80%.
The farm, based in Boncath, Pembrokeshire, has been in the Harris family for almost 50 years, and it was in 1999 that Laurence Harris it was converted to organic production and the Daioni began. However it wasn’t until 2012 that the company began to export.
The company now has its products on shelves all over Asia and Europe. Last year launched a new iced coffee latte, which they just presented at the world’s largest food and drink trade event in Dubai.
10. Elmac Technologies
Based in Flintshire, Elmac Technologies manufactures flame and explosion protection devices that are used in some of the world’s most challenging environments, including oil refineries and offshore drilling rigs, petrochemical plants and the bulk storage of hazardous liquids.
The business has been in existence for more than 70 years, however it wasn’t until 2007 that the company decided to pursue a more aggressive international expansion plan and started exporting its products overseas.
An export manager was hired and the company started to attend major international trade shows in countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Abu Dhabi and Singapore.
Exports now account for more than 50% of Elmac’s annual turnover.
11. ExVeritas
A winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade, Wrexham-based ExVeritas is a leader in the field of explosion safety and certification.
Over the past five years the company has grown to include new offices in Singapore, Denmark and North America, and new training centres with partners in Malta and Ireland.
12. Halen Mon
Favoured by celebrity chefs and on the shelves of Fortnum and Mason, Harvey Nichols and Harrods, Halen Mon (Anglesey Sea Salt) is one of Wales’s most successful exporters.
The company’s product has EU protected food name status, joining other protected names like Champagne, Parma ham and Roquefort cheese.
Last year the firm was recognised by the 海角视频 Government for bringing innovation and prosperity to the 海角视频.
The company has come a long way in the past two decades since David and Alison Lea-Wilson had a go at making their own sea salt by leaving a saucepan of Anglesey seawater to bubble away on the ancient Aga in their family kitchen.
13. Hydro Industries
The Langennech-based water treatment technology venture has a growing global client base that includes Ford, Shell, De la Rue T&T Salvage and Harsco.
Hydro uses an electro-based treatment, which uses electrons to treat water without the need for chemicals or biomass is a highly efficient ‘clean technology’.
It has a proven track record of providing safe drinking water and cleaning up industrial waste across the globe, most notably in India, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, the United Arab Emirates, France and the USA.
Exports make up around 85% of the business.
14. Ifor Williams Trailers
Last year Ifor Williams Trailers celebrated both 60 years in business and the 750,000 trailer rolling off the production line.
The company employs more than 500 people and has factories on Deeside Industrial Estate, in Ruthin, Corwen and in Cynwyd where it was founded in 1958.
Overseas sales now account for more than 30% of the business is forecast to increase in the years ahead.
15. Kent Periscopes
Based in St Asaph, Kent Periscopes, develops sighting systems for armoured vehicles.
In 2016 won a £9m deal to supply sights for the new Ajax light tank that will be made for the British Army in Merthyr Tydfil.
However, more than 80% of sales being overseas, with customers in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Canada and Spain.
It is also a previous winner of the Queen’s Award for International Trade, having seen its overseas sales grow by 200% between 2013 and 2016.
16. Laser Wire
Laser Wire designs and manufactures standard and customised laser wire-stripping machines to remove insulation from high-performance wires and cables.
The Pontypridd -based firm works in a range of sectors including medical, automotive, aerospace and data communications.
Last year the company won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise (International Trade) following its export achievement over the years 2014-2016, during which time the company grew more than 149%
Laser Wire only started in 2012 as a two-man band business in a garage in Merthyr, but now employs close to 30 staff at Treforest Industrial Estate.
17. LSN Diffusion
Ammanford-based LSN Diffusion a high-tech metallurgical business recently secured a £1.25m loan from the Development Bank of Wales to support ambitious growth plans.
Its used to manufacture high alloy atomised powders used in high-tech industrial applications including 3D printing and specialised uses in the defence and other industrial sectors.
Nearly 90% of the products are exported.
The recently secured a £1.25m loan from the Development Bank of Wales will help the business increase production capacity by 80% over the next three years by expanding manufacturing facilities in Cilyrychen, Ammanford.
The funding will secure existing employment and create 40 new skilled jobs bringing the headcount to over 135 employees.
18. Lumishore
Another company that’s probably better known overseas than in Wales, is Swansea-based Lumishore which produces underwater boat lighting systems.
Its products include the world’s first colour changing leisure marine underwater lights, the world’s smallest thru-hull interchangeable unit, and their super yacht weld-in lighting system.
Intelligent drivers allow the LED arrays to be controlled in different ways including the ability to change colours, and the system can be operated from smart phones and linked to music systems.
Lumishore has won a number of Queen’s Awards, twice for international trade and one for enterprise.
19. Markes International
The Llantrisant firm makes equipment that can detect traces of chemicals in the atmosphere.
The devices can be used in everything from detecting nerve gas at airports to checking whether food has gone off.
The company does more than 80% of its business overseas, and has offices in the US and Germany.
20. Intelligent Ultrasound Group
Cardiff University spinout medical devices firm Intelligent Ultrasound Group (formerly Medaphor) is a global provider of advanced ultrasound training simulators for medical professionals.
It is also at the forefront of developments that could see expectant mothers scanned using artificial intelligence.
Around 90% of it sales are international. It also has offices in Georgia in the US.
21. Net World Sports
Wrexham-based Net World Sports is a global e-commerce business with an expanding range of quality, predominantly own-brand, sports equipment.
Founded in 2009, it is now recognised as a leading retailer within the industry, offering more than 5,000 different products to customers in more than 100 countries worldwide.
In 2017, international sales made up more than half of its annual revenues from core markets such as the United States, Australia, Canada and continental Europe through to Japan, Dubai and Guam.
22. Orangebox
Orangebox makes innovative office furniture, including acoustic pods and stylish screens, seating and meeting tables.
Orangebox, which also has offices in London, New York and Dubai, and other manufacturing bases in Huddersfield and Michigan in the US, has a workforce of 450. However, the majority, 350, are employed in Nantgarw.
Towards the end of the year the company was acquired in a £63m deal by American firm Steelcase, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and generates annual sales of $3.1bn.
The deal will allow Steelcase which has acquired a 100% stake in the business, to accelerate its product development in Europe and around the world.
The is aim is to double the size of Orangebox over the next five years
23. Reid Lifting
Chepstow-based Reid Lifting specialises in lightweight and portable lifting equipment
Reid was formed after its founder, Jim Reid, extensively researched the causes of lifting injuries in the water industry and started to work on several designs.
Founded in 1996, the company’s first export was in 1999 to Canada with help from a relative of Mr Reid.
Nearly 20 years later, Reid Lifting currently exports its products to customers working across multiple industries in countries and regions including Singapore, Malaysia, the Middle East, North America and Australia. In 2009 the Chepstow-based firm won a contract to supply the Vatican museums.
Last year, Reid Lifting’s export value was £3.6m, with 56% of their sales being made through exporting goods.
24. Ruth Lee
Ruth Lee is a world-leading provider of realistic manikins and training aids to rescue training experts across the world.
Designed and manufactured in Corwen, its manikins are primarily used by fire and rescue services, but the company has a multitude of other customers including the Ministry of Defence, police services, paramedics, RNLI, care homes and a host of global businesses including GlaxoSmith Kline and BMW.
The business is approaching record sales of £3m thanks to its growing portfolio of export clients. Overseas' sales now make up around 70% of the firm’s production, with key customers across Europe, North America and Australasia
25. Royal Mint
The ’s headquarters in Llantrisant employs more than 900 people and can produce 90m coins and blanks a week, which works out at almost five billion coins a year.
Its first responsibility is to make and distribute United Kingdom coins as well as to supply blanks and official medals, but it is also the world’s leading export mint.
The Royal Mint currently holing a 15% global market share, and makes coins and medals for an average of 60 countries every year.
26. SPTS Technologies
SPTS Technologies supplies advanced wafer processing solutions for the global semiconductor industry.
The Newport-based company works with the world’s leading semiconductor and microelectronic device manufacturers and research institutions, employing around 500 people globally with approximately 300 employees in Newport.
27. Silverlining Furniture
Silverlining Furniture won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2018, and was also listed in The Sunday Times list of the top 100 fastest-growing Small Medium Enterprise Exporters.
The Wrexham-based firm designs, produces and creates some of the world’s finest - and most expensive - furniture and bespoke interiors. Most projects come with a price tag that exceeds £2m.
Examples of the unique work includes horse hair braided into speakers and leather which is embossed, finished and patterned for a floor in Singapore. Their pieces can take a year to complete.
The business, which was started in 1985 by Mark Boddington, really took of in the 1990s when they started created furniture for clients around the world, notably for David Bowie’s London and New York homes, and for Kevin Costner’s Hollywood mansion.
They plan to increase their workforce from 86 to 130 people by 2022.
28. Sure Chill
Cardiff-based Sure Chill ha pioneered an innovative cooling technology to protect life-saving vaccines in developing countries.
Their medical refrigerators can last without power for up to 12 days and have since protected 20 million vaccinations around the world.
Its technology is improving healthcare and living conditions in countries across Africa and Asia – especially those without reliable power.
The company currently exports to over 50 countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Pakistan and Nepal, with plans to enter new markets in South America and the Gulf states.
29. Teddington Engineering Solutions
Teddington Engineering Solutions, based in Llanelli, manufactures and designs bellows and expansion joints.
It has seen its turnover rise by 18% in the last two years and headcount grow by 30% over the past four years thanks to exports, which make up 66% of its sales.
The firm is now eyeing up further growth by expanding into a brand new market – the steel industry, which it has not previously worked with. This will be key to the business’ growth and success in 2019.
The company has exported to over 90 countries and been involved in prestigious projects. In Dubai alone, it has supplied Dubai airport, the metro system, the world’s tallest building the Burj Khalifa, the biggest mall in the world and the Palm Jumeirah.
30. Zip-Clip
Zip-Clip is a Welshpool-based manufacturer and innovator in suspension systems for electrical, mechanical, heating and ventilation industries.
The company was founded in 2004 and for its first four years in business concentrated purely on the domestic market, but with global recession it began to look further afield.
Exports now account for 40% of its turnover, with a projected rise to to 60% by 2020.
It currently exports to over 50 clients across 30 countries with Australia, America, India, the Middle East, Europe and New Zealand forming its largest markets.