WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the release of the International Trade Administration’s new Market Diversification Tool (MDT). This unique application puts 12 million data points at the fingertips of U.S. exporters and helps them identify the top potential foreign markets for their products.

“Currently, more than half of domestic exporters ship to only one market overseas,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “Drawing upon the vast data resources and analytics available to the Department of Commerce, this tool can help companies explore previously untapped markets, strengthening U.S. companies’ competitiveness and overseas presence.”

The MDT quickly produces a report that previously would have taken hours of research across multiple platforms. Taking basic information from exporters, it uses 11 different indicators, runs calculations on those inputs, and produces a ranked list of recommended markets with scores for each country. The ranked list can prepare exporters for more in-depth research and help them find partners in new markets.

Similar to other Commerce data applications, the MDT is flexible and user friendly. By permitting users to select multiple markets or regions – tailoring their search to meet their specific needs – the MDT shows the data behind each score so the results can be quickly evaluated. In addition, it links to other Department of Commerce resources, allowing exporters to further develop their strategies for potential foreign expansion.

Having the ability to access on-demand export market data opens a new world for exporters by making available the Department’s data analysis to any user, allowing more companies that ever before to benefit from the expert know-how at Commerce.

The Market Diversification Tool is available at https://www.export.gov/marketdiversification. It was developed by the Industry & Analysis unit of the International Trade Administration. For additional information, please e-mail marketdiversification@trade.gov.