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Country Roads lead Japanese business leaders to tour Mid-Ohio Valley looking for opportunities

By Brett Dunlap 5 min read

DAVISVILLE - Local business and development leaders hope that country roads will lead a number of Japanese businesses to West Virginia to develop businesses in Wood County.

A delegation from Japan is in the area this week looking at opportunities to possibly locate businesses locally.

There were 19 people in the delegation, including four corporate presidents and six corporate CEOs as well as several board chairmen, board members and others from different companies, said Keith Burdette, president and chief executive officer of the Polymer Alliance Zone Inc. There were also people who handle business relations for the state in Asia and others.

"I have seen the list and it is an impressive list of decision makers," he said adding however he could not say which companies were represented. "It is an impressive delegation.

"This is all about relationship building. That is how it all works."

There were a wide variety of companies represented: a food manufacturer, a company that makes hoses, a company that makes polymers and others.

"It is a pretty broad group of companies," Burdette said.

The Polymer Alliance Zone hosted a reception Tuesday evening at Discovery World where the representatives were able to meet various people and leaders from around the community. On Wednesday they visited the Polymer Alliance Zone Industrial Park in Davisville where they toured the Somar facility, they visited the WVU Parkersburg Innovation and Technology Center in Vienna for a tour, and visited the companies at Washington Works, including Chemours, Celanese and Kuraray. They had dinner on a river cruise along the Ohio River. Today, they will be visiting the Hino Motor Plant as well as K.S. of West Virginia Co. Ltd. in Ravenswood before returning to Charleston to fly back home.

Burdette talked about how Futoshi Sotani, president of Somar, came up with a list of companies in Japan that he felt were ready to move into the U.S. economy. Somar opened a facility in 2024 at the Polymer Alliance Zone Industrial Park in Davisville where they make an epoxy resin that is used in insulation.

"(Sotani) has really embraced this community and really wants to advance the community and create a larger base of Japanese companies that feed off each other," Burdette said. "That has happened in other parts of West Virginia where other companies have come in.

"I have never worked with a CEO who was that engaged in helping us recruit companies. We are blessed that he feels that strongly about us. We want to help him make the pitch."

Various local leaders talked to the delegation about why this area would be conducive to their business interests.

Burdette talked about how the area is well situated in the eastern United States, close to a third of the U.S. population and has access to affordable energy.

Jerry James, president of Artex Oil in Marietta and vice chairman of Shale Cresent USA, talked about the energy advantages in the region through natural gas.

"The U.S. economy runs on affordable energy," he said. "When energy is affordable the U.S. economy prospers.

"When energy costs are high, the U.S. and sometimes the world goes into recession."

He talked about the U.S. being the number-one producer of natural gas, with West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania being the biggest producers of natural gas in the United States and the second biggest producers of natural gas in the world.

"The advantage is lower cost for our manufacturers and their clients," James said.

This region is the largest natural gas producing basin in the United States, producing more natural gas than both the Haynesville Basin in Louisiana and the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, he said, adding here due to the proximity of the natural gas, companies here have lower costs in transporting fuel to their facilities.

Burdette is hoping this visit will result in investment in this area with the hope of one or more of these companies really taking an interest and talking to them about setting up an operation here.

"That is always our goal," he said. "To be able to talk to them about what we can offer is a huge step in recruiting new companies here.

"We are excited. This is a great opportunity for us."

Although, West Virginia is considered a small state there are advantages the state can provide to businesses looking to locate here.

"We are more nimble, more responsive and less bureaucratic," Burdette said.

The Polymer Alliance Zone Industrial Park is preparing a 15-acre site where business facilities are planning to be built for future development.

Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said he hopes the Japanese visitors have a great overall impression of Wood County and that these meetings lead to more manufacturing jobs coming to the area.

"I hope they connect `Country Roads' to here," he said. "We want this to feel like home and hopefully it will be a place they would like to come."

Sotani said he wanted to help bring more companies to the area because many of them are not aware of the advantages of this area.

"I told them how great this state is," he said. "I told them the benefits of setting up here.

"Seeing is believing."

When Somar located in Davisville a couple of years ago, they had the chance to locate in Ohio or Michigan. They came here because they were able to get quick responses from government officials to address their concerns and needs.

"I love this state and I hope I can bring more business here," Sotani said. "I hope we can have a wonderful relationship between Japanese companies and this state."

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