Over the past year, companies across the province were recognized in their communities with an export-focused award. On May 15, 2012 these companies will come together at the provincial award ceremony and one will be named the, "Nova Scotia Exporter of the Year".

The companies are:

Clearwater is a leader in the global seafood industry recognized for its consistent quality, wide diversity and reliable delivery of premium seafood, including scallops, lobster, clams and cold-water shrimp. Since its founding in 1976, Clearwater has invested in science, people, technology, resource ownership and resource management to sustain and grow its seafood resource. This commitment has allowed it to remain a leader in the North American seafood industry.

Halifax Biomedical is a medical imaging measurements service company that provides stereo x-ray measurements to monitor patients after joint replacement surgery. To provide these services HBI has developed a unique turn-key dynamic stereo radiography technology and biomarking solutions for orthopaedic research. Like a GPS for the body, HBI's technology enables the surgeon to track the location of a patients implant up to 20 times more precisely that an MRI or CT scan. All data from client sites is centralized on HBI servers and processed at its Cape Breton Headquarters in Mabou. The majority of HBI's business is outside of Canada with clients in Europe, Australia and the United States.

For over 150 years, I. Matheson & Company Limited has quietly been in continuous operation. It has been designing, engineering and building a wide range of Industrial products in its Pictou County facility.

I. Matheson & Company began exporting over a century ago when in the years between 1907 and 1908, it built the hull for the James William, Canada's only steel sailing ship.

Years later, reports of more exports of I. Matheson & Company continued to filter back from returning WWl veterans. They spoke of some in of the war's worst moments, thinking of home and finding shelter in the basements of Europe and looking up and finding themselves curled up around a Matheson Boiler.

In 2007, through an introduction to an Alberta Company that designs Process Equipment Packages for the Global Downstream Oil and Gas Industry, I. Matheson and Company export markets have expanded to include new places such as Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The alliance I. Matheson has formed with their Alberta partner had allowed the Company to manufacture and ship multi-million dollar projects to over 10 countries spread over 5 Continents.

This decisively proves that business in Nova Scotia can compete globally with quality and competitive pricing.

By providing consistent quality, efficiency and customer service, I. Matheson & Company's dedicated team of skilled professional Pictou County employees are being acknowledged around the world. The continued perseverance to maintain old fashioned pride in our work, high standards and excellent reputation for superior products will only set them in a good position to continue to develop exports.

IMO Foods, Canada's leading producer of naturally-smoked kipper snack foods, is located in a 40,000 square foot facility on the waterfront in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The Canadian owned and managed company employs 65 people. IMO produces its own "Kersen" brand of kipper snacks and sauce seafood products, as well as a variety of other brands which it co-packs for other companies. IMO exports 85% of its production to the United States, Australia and the Caribbean. The balance of its sales are Canadian, where its Kersen brand is distributed through major retail chains including Sobey's, Costco and Co-op Atlantic in five Canadian provinces.

Sales have risen steadily for the company, and IMO management attributes a portion of its success to its superior product resulting from a natural smoking process that provides a much better flavour profile than competitive products which use artificial flavouring to generate a smoked taste. Other contributing factors have been a rise in consumer interest in natural products, growing public awareness of the health benefits of Omega 3, which is prominent in IMO fish products, and the fact that IMO uses only "wild caught" fish from Canadian waters.

IMO products fall into the shelf-stable seafood snack food category. This is an industry built around a low-margin, high-volume business model. IMO management realizes that for the company to create significant and sustainable profit levels, it must generate large volumes and keep tight control on product margins.

K&R was established in 1945 and is located on the South Shore of Nova Scotia in Port Saxon. Our expertise is in manufacturing gelatine and gelatine products from the skin of deep-sea fish such as cod, pollock and haddock to produce food, pharmaceutical and technical grade fish gelatine. Our food/pharmaceutical grades are used in applications for microencapsulating vitamins, for binding food, for cosmetics and for nutraceutical drinks. All our food grade products are 100% pure without additives or preservatives.

Our technical grade fish gelatines have a wide variety of uses such as electroplating, blocking agents for laboratory testing, coatings for solar panel manufacturing and adhesives for intricate woodworking. Gelatin and collagen produced from fish have the risk of allergens, but with innovative technological advances, we have reduced the risk of allergens to make our food/pharma products hypo-allergenic. All products are tested by accredited third party laboratories to provide thorough microbial and heavy metal analyses. We are proud to provide one of the most extensive Certificates of Analysis in the industry.

K&R is registered with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, operates using a CFIA approved Quality Program and is certified as Halal and Kosher. In addition, K&R was the first gelatine manufacturer in Canada to complete the difficult registration process for exporting gelatine into the EU. We are known world-wide and our diverse markets include sales to the United States, Japan, China, Europe and South America.

National Gypsum (Canada) Ltd.  operates a large gypsum quarry at Milford Station located about 50 kilometers outside  Halifax.  The company has been in Nova Scotia since 1928. It has operated from its current location since 1954 and has shipped over 150 million tons through the port of Halifax. The bulk of the gypsum is used in the manufacture of gypsum wallboard used in the construction of houses and office buildings.  There is also a significant amount of gypsum fines shipped to potato farmers in Prince Edward Island.

The rock is quarried in Milford Station and is moved daily in 7,000 ton unit trains to the dock facility located at Wrights Cove in Dartmouth. The rock is stockpiled and loadout in 40,000 ton shipments. In a busy year there are over 90 ships loaded at the facility. Shipments go to New Brunswick and Quebec but the bulk goes to wallboard plants located along the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf Coast of United States.

The housing industry in the U.S. has been heavily hit by the recession. Volumes are less than half of those experienced before the recession. National Gypsum has changed its operations to suit the lower volumes and keep cost and productivity competitive. This has assured continued operation. It has also been helped by finding new customers in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Columbia.

Pearl & Daisy Natural Soap Company manufactures 100% natural artisanal bath and body products that are sold in fine gift shops, galleries, museums, and spas. The authentic soap recipes are made with pure essential oils that are blended for aromatherapy benefits and glorious natural scents inspired by Nova Scotia's seashores, forests, and meadows. A little bit of Nova Scotia is crafted into each bar of soap, through ingredients such as kelp, rose hips, or balsam fir. Since the company was formed in 2009, it has grown rapidly with a focus on exporting to western Canada and the eastern seaboard of the USA. In 2011, Pearl & Daisy sponsored the official gift lounge at the Canadian Country Music Awards, where they presented celebrities with the company's award-winning boxed gift sets ("Best New Product" - Atlantic Craft Trade Show.) A recent move to space in Debert's Industrial Mall has allowed the company to scale up production and still retain traditional hand-stirred techniques. Now able to produce thousands of bars per week, the company is exploring export markets in Europe and Singapore.

Protocase Inc. is a Nova Scotia company, with head office and manufacturing located in Sydney, NS. Founded in 2001, it now has 60 employees and over 4000 customers across North America and around the world.

Protocase manufactures electronic enclosures and metal components for innovators in the electronics industry. Customers work for organizations that range from startups to the best known names in technology, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Boeing, MIT, Stanford University, and many more.

Protocase operates under a unique business model that combines lean manufacturing, mass customization, and heavy automation of information flow. This allows Protocase to manufacture complex custom enclosures and sheet metal parts at unheard of speed (typically in 2-3 days) and volumes as low as quantity ‘one'.

Protocase created its own 3D CAD software for enclosure design. This unique patented software, called Protocase Designer™, allows engineers to very quickly create complex designs, which flow electronically from their desktop, through the internet, all the way to the factory floor.

Scotian Gold Co-operative Limited has been an integral part of the agricultural community in Nova Scotia since the operation began over 100 year ago as the United Fruit Companies. This producer owned apple co-operative handles fruit from approximately 55 growers, representing about 50% of the total Nova Scotia apple crop.

The co-operative's primary business objective within the Apple Division is the storage, packing and marketing of its members' fruit. In an ever changing and competitive industry, Scotian Gold co-operative continues to look for new fruit varieties and improvements in storage and packing facilities to ensure the freshest and crispest apples are delivered to the consumer. With growing orchards and apple volumes Scotian Gold's export focus is on developing new markets for our member grown crops.

Exporting apples in the province goes back to the early 20th century when Great Britain was the biggest customer of Nova Scotia grown apples. Scotian Gold stills exports to Great Britain where there continues to be an appetite for Annapolis Valley grown McIntosh apples. Our unique fall climate with sunny warm days and cool fall nights is ideal for producing the best Honeycrisp apples in the world and we have developed a reputation for our Honeycrisp. As a result, we have developed an export market in the US for our Honeycrisp apples.

Easy Sorter grew out of employee innovation at Sissiboo Investments. That has been, and continues to be, a key feature of the Easy Sorter line – innovation. Providing end users with a quality source separating product to meet the individual legislative requirements of regions makes EasySorter THE product of choice. The market for the EasySorter line reaches from Canada's Pacific to Atlantic coasts and into the United States. The team at EasySorter is committed to 100% customer satisfaction. We provide customers with consulting services, custom designs and logistics planning. Employee innovation, design customization and commitment to service make EasySorter a company of choice to do business with.

For almost 20 years we have been providing different industries with customized shipping solutions, based on their needs and specific requirements. That could be crates in all sizes and forms built out of wooden materials or out of very strong and protective double and triple walled cardboard materials.

Understanding customer needs, develop together the best suitable solution, and make sure 100% customer satisfaction, are our key goals and objectives.

TecBox is certified by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and complies with international ISPM#15 (wooden materials) regulations. Only lumber from a certified facility (Heat Treatment with Certificate) can be used and additionally a supplier certification is required.

Currently we are working on an "ISO 9001: 2008".