Most businesses treat export credit insurance as a safety net, something to add when they get nervous. But the most competitive exporters I’ve worked with use it as a growth engine. It’s built into the sales strategy from day one.
Since 2020, one New Jersey-based agricultural exporter has done exactly that.
They’ve held a $10 million multi-buyer export credit insurance policy through EXIM Bank. The limit hasn’t changed. But what they’ve accomplished with it is the real story.
Over five years, they’ve shipped more than $250 million in agricultural products to international buyers. They’ve kept receivables insured, transferred risk, and maintained steady cash flow. Last year alone, that policy supported over $55 million in export sales.
And they did it without ever increasing their coverage limit.
Why This Stands Out
Most growing companies upgrade systems, teams, or lenders. This one optimized their credit structure. That stability allowed them to grow their global sales without absorbing more risk.
A few highlights:
- In year one, they covered nearly $30 million in shipments
- In 2023, they surpassed $74 million in export volume
- They built the right structure from the beginning and stayed consistent
How the Structure Worked
If you’ve worked with EXIM’s Multi-Buyer Export Credit Insurance, you know the mechanics. But this exporter used it with long-term intent.
- Comprehensive buyer coverage gave them the confidence to sell into markets they might have otherwise avoided
- Discretionary Credit Limits (DCLs) allowed them to onboard new buyers without reapplying for coverage every time
- Rolling exposure and monthly reporting meant their coverage scaled with sales, not paperwork
Insured receivables became usable collateral, unlocking working capital from lenders - Liquidity improved as cash recycled faster, without absorbing additional credit risk
How $10M Turns into $250M
This wasn’t a fluke. It was smart underwriting applied with discipline.
Consider a simple example. Say you have a customer that buys $100,000 of goods each month. Before export credit insurance, you might only offer tight payment terms, such as Net 15 or cash in advance.
With EXIM credit insurance in place, you’re more comfortable offering Net 60 terms. Instead of placing smaller, more frequent orders, your buyer consolidates and increases their volume, purchasing $300,000 every other month instead of $100,000 monthly. That change alone can grow that single relationship from $1.2 million to $1.8 million in annual sales.
Now imagine you apply that same structure across your top 10 buyers or your entire global portfolio. That’s how a $10 million policy, smartly structured and consistently applied, supports $250 million in international sales over time.
Why It Matters for SME Exporters
This is a story about a mid-sized exporter growing buyer by buyer.
They used EXIM’s insurance to make each deal safer, each receivable more financeable, and each expansion more predictable.
When This Multi-Buyer Structure Works Best
This approach may be a fit if you:
- Have consistent international sales across multiple buyers
- Want to offer open account terms without holding all of the credit risk
- Work with lenders who finance against insured receivables
- Are scaling, but want to keep risk exposure manageable
If you’re exporting $1 million, $10 million, or even $100 million a year, and looking to manage buyer risk while growing sales, this structure might suit you too.
Not every company reaches $250 million. But the ones that do often get structure right early and stick with it.