Utahns who have something to sell overseas can take advantage of a variety of free services offered by the U.S. Commercial Services, officials said Wednesday during the seventh annual Rural Business Conference, which attracted more than 500 people.

Last year, the U.S. Commercial Service helped 12,000 U.S. businesses - most of them small- or medium-sized - export goods and services worth $12 billion.

"Americans are less concerned about exports than any other nation," said Stan Rees, director of Miller Global Business Center at Salt Lake Community College. "But as the global economy changes, we will have to compete to sell our products."

It's not that difficult to export in most cases, said Rees, and even the smallest of companies can find overseas' markets.

David Fiscus, director of the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Salt Lake City, said his agency has 100 offices domestically and 150 officers in 80 countries to help get American businesses into the export market.

"Wherever you're looking to do business, odds are we have boots on the ground to help you find channels of distribution," he said.

Many companies have Web sites capable of attracting hits from overseas, he added, "and we can help you capture those inquiries and possibly bring them on as distributors or customers."

The agency also sponsors international trade shows - many of them staged in Las Vegas - where U.S. business owners can meet foreign counterparts.

Utah's export market has grown 6 percent since 2004 - making it No. 2 in the Mountain West for exports. In addition, Utah companies exported more than $1 billion in goods and services in January - a record high, said Brett Heimburger, with the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

For his part, Michael Brooks, who runs a two-person systems development firm in Cedar City, said when he had questions for export officials, "they couldn't have been more helpful, and more encouraging."

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who hosted the conference at the Carbon County Event Center, said the United States is in a position to capitalize on opportunities opened up by globalization and the information revolution.

Bennett tried to counter reports that the U.S. is losing jobs to other countries because of free trade, saying, "More Americans are going to work than at any time in our history, and more jobs are being created than being destroyed.

"All of this will collapse if we try to raise artificial [trade] barriers that could imitate barriers from the Cold War."

dawn@sltrib.com