US Department of Commerce recognizes trader

The International Trade Administration (ITA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce recognized Dipan Patel and MGK International Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, where he serves as business development manager, at a virtual awards ceremony Sept. 9. Patel and MGK were recognized with an Export Achievement Certificate for exporting scrap metals to Taiwan using Gold Key Service (GKS) from U.S. Commercial Services.

GKS provides U.S. companies with matchmaking appointments with up to five interested partners in a foreign market and includes identification and outreach to potential matching firms and preparing a profile of interested firms.  

The Export Achievement Certificate recognizes small and medium-sized companies that have entered the international marketplace for the first time or that have entered a new market.

MGK International worked with the U.S. Commercial Service to develop partnerships with market leaders in Taiwan that resulted in more than $1.8 million in export sales. These export transactions supported 22 American jobs, according to the ITA.

Patel told the ITA, “We are proud of our work with the U.S. Commercial Service to open up our business to Taiwan. This tremendous achievement is a testament to the rapid strides we have made to enter this market.”

MGK International is part of the MTC (Mehta Trading Co.) Group based in Mumbai, India, which trades in scrap metal and operates processing facilities throughout India to separate, process, pack and sell scrap metal.

Patel says he has been able to develop more than $15 million in trade for recyclables that include ferrous and nonferrous metals and plastics since 2015 using GKS.

Prior to this achievement, Patel was nominated previously for shipping about 500 metric tons of cathode ray tube (CRT) glass, including the leaded funnel glass and the lead-free panel glass, to South Korea for recycling from 2017 to 2018. The glass represents roughly 10 percent of the MGK’s overall shipments to the country, with the majority being ferrous and nonferrous metals.

Patel says MGK specializes in trading ferrous and shredded aluminum scrap. The material, supplied by more than 120 vendors located in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Gulf Coast, Pacific Northwest and Midwest United States, is shipped to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Ecuador as well as to parts of Europe.