European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 22, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                P i a be f t e. E c e. Soviet Amer i can Wool. Cobet Ckarl h a   through Trade by Sharon Hudgins w hat can one person do that was the question Peter Hagarty asked himself in Spring 1985. My neighbors and i would watch the evening news and see our country draw closer and closer to armed conflict with the soviet Union. Although we knew in our hearts that the russian people were just like us the fear of nuclear War numbed us and made us feel  Peter Hagarty a 1968 graduate of Harvard University lives with his wife and two children on a Small farm in Western Maine. Since 1975 he has worked As a sheep Farmer logger and commercial sheep Shearer. In 1985 Hagerty added another Job to his Busy schedule. As the founder of peace fleece he became the first person to import soviet Wool to the United states. Peter Hagarty s dream of american soviet cooperation in the Wool Trade grew out of his fear of nuclear War. For me the sense of despair became too great said Hagerty. My feelings about work on the farm began to change. What was the Point of raising All these lambs growing All this feed if All at once the sky should Light up and everything i valued was gone together with his wife Marty Tracy Hagerty came up with the idea for peace fleece. His plan was to Purchase soviet Wool and Combine it with american Wool to produce yarn that would be a Symbol of cooperation and Friendship Between the people of both countries. Trust through Trade became Hagerty s motto. As owner of 160 sheep Hagerty had a ready Supply of american Wool. But where was he going to find the soviet Wool for his project he wrote to the agricultural and Trade ministries in the soviet Union but no one answered his letters. He contacted the agriculture department Commerce department and state department in Washington. No one had any information cover of a folder describing grass roots project in american soviet commercial cooperation in the Wool Trade. About soviet sheep farming. All he Learned was that the soviet Union the world s largest producer of Wool does t Export any to the United states. In August of 1985, Hagerty made his first trip to the soviet Union As a member of a group of american Farmers who were touring the country. I arrived in Moscow on a thursday said Hagerty and by Friday afternoon i had a Trade  the unusual Speed at which he was Able to do business with the soviets resulted from two strokes of Good Luck. The first occurred when Hagerty contacted the Moscow office of a new York company that has been trading with the soviets since the 1920s. The local american representative phoned someone at the soviet ministry of foreign Trade and made an appointment for Hagerty to meet with one of the ministry s officials the following Day. The second bit of Good Luck occurred when Hagerty s appointment turned out to be with Nikolai Emelianow director of the government Agency which oversees the soviet Union s production of Wool Cotton and synthetic fibres. Dressed in Blue jeans and boots Hagerty explained his peace fleece idea to Emelianow. Or. Hagerty Why do you want to do this peace fleece asked the sceptical Emelianow in excellent English. Hagerty Begar to explain his fear of nuclear War and his dream of building Trust and Friendship through Trade. Before i knew it says Hagerty we were talking about our children his son my daughter and television. I told him about my wife my town my  a rapport Between the two men soon developed. Both were the same age both were University graduates both had families both worked in the Wool business and both did not Ever want a nuclear War to happen. Emelianow put some Wool samples on the table. Within a few minutes he and Hagerty had made a Deal for 1,200 pounds of soviet Wool to be shipped to the United states. The first Bales of soviet Wool from peace fleece founder Peter Hagerty his wife Marty Tracy and the children. Krasnodar arrived in the United states the following february. Hagerty arranged for the Wool to be cleaned then carded blended with an equal amount of american Wool from new England and Texas. This mixture of soviet and american Wool was dyed in various colors and finally spun into yarn. By june of 1986, Hagerty was Selling the yarn by mail under the trademark peace  each skein of 2-ply knitting yarn is 100% Virgin Wool 50% american 50% soviet. The yarn comes in eleven colors mostly soft hues with such names As glasnost Gold Elbe Blue negotiation Gray and people to people  Hagerty also Sells White Wool batting for people who want to spin their own soviet american yarn. Peace fleece kits Are now also sold at retail yarn stores throughout the United states and Canada. An attractive paper tote bag printed on the outside in both English and russian contains two skeins of peace fleece yarn enough to knit a pair of mittens or a Cap. Included Are Complete knitting instructions plus a Large brochure telling How the peace fleece business began. Hagerty now plans to sell peace fleece yarn to soviet knitters too. Our Hope is that through peace fleece american and soviet craftspeople can correspond perhaps meet share ideas with each other and become  mail orders for peace fleece yarn can be placed by writing to Peter Hagerty peace fleece red 1, Box 57, Kezar Falls Maine 04047. Ask for a Sample card and Price list showing the eleven colors of yarn available. Sharon Hudgins is a freelance writer who lives in Munich West Germany. . Firms form Trade consortium to operate in Russia by Claudia h. Deutsch new York times r Obert j. Carbonell remembers it All  12 years ago Standard brands inc now a part of Rwjr Nabisco inc was talking to a since disbanded Branch of the soviet Union s agricultural ministry about producing High fructose Corn syrup in Russia. Soviet officials broached the idea so presumably they did All they could to ease the company s path. Still the obstacles proved to be insurmountable in those Days when you went to Moscow As guests of a specific group that was the group you dealt with said Carbonell who was with Standard brands at the time. Well we needed to look at supplies of Energy of machinery of other things that were not in the jurisdiction of the agricultural Branch. It was impossible to even make contacts. The project never got to first  Carbonell now vice chairman of Rwjr Nabisco is trying again. But this time things Are Likely to go a lot smoother. The reason in april amid much press hoopla Rwjr and six other companies Eastman Kodak Johnson & Johnson Chevron Ford motor Archer Daniels Midland and the Mercator corp. Formed the american Trade consortium to try to accomplish As a group what had seemed impossible to do alone. The russians meanwhile have formed their own consortium consisting of representatives from several ministries to Deal with the americans. Throughout this Spring and summer High level executives at the american companies have been shuttling to and from Moscow trying to negotiate joint ventures for such diverse products As cars Oil and breakfast cereals. Simultaneously officials from both consortium have been arguing Over such sweeping concerns As tax and accounting rules multiple re entry visas for americans working in the soviet Union and repatriation of hard currency. The Hope is that by december not Only will each company have its own joint ventures pretty Well Laid out but that the two consortium will have hammered out a general Trade agreement that will ease the path for All the ventures. The idea of the consortium is that people could get a critical mass together said James h. Giffen the Mastermind behind the consortium and the chairman of Mercator the merchant Bank that is advising the companies. There is no need to reinvent the wheel in every  maybe not but in Russia greasing wheels is More important than inventing them. And Giffen a Well known authority on american soviet Trade for 25 years has a reputation As a wheel Greaser Par excellence. He is said to know everyone there is to know in the soviet Union and to use those contacts to Cut through red tape. Even the Chevron corp., which at first walked at it takes Consumers years in the soviet Union to have an order filled for a car like the Lada pictured Here. Mercator s fees got lured in by that reputation. He is on a first name basis with every minister said John h. Silcox president of Chevron overseas Petroleum inc., the Chevron unit involved with the consortium. He could clearly help us work through the  such help is vitally needed. In 1986, As part of Mikhail s. Gorbachev s restructuring of the russian Economy the soviet Union passed a Law allowing foreign companies to own 49 percent of joint ventures they might set up with soviet enterprises. But some aspects of the Law Are maddeningly vague. For example it allows a foreign partner Access to the venture s financial data but does not define what Access Means. Giffen has negotiated the right to take copies of financial documents out of Russia. He has negotiated where arbitration of disputes would take place Sweden. And he is now trying to insure that americans working for the soviet joint ventures Are allowed to bring in televisions Vars and other household items. The process even with Giffen Clearing the Way can be painfully slow. The soviets say that everything will be wrapped up in three or four months said Robert r. Reilly executive director of corporate strategy for the Ford motor co. I m thinking in terms of multiples of  will be false starts ups and Downs. This thing will be evolving for the next 10  so Why bother the waiting list for soviet made cars is four years Long Reilly said. It is perhaps the world s biggest untapped  the soviet Union remains one of the world s most difficult markets to penetrate. Amenities that americans take for granted Are virtually nonexistent. There Are perpetual shortages of consumer goods. Roads and railroads Are poor. Visas Are needed to travel Between cities. Communications technology is archaic. Even picking a product to make is a herculean task in Russia. For companies like Chevron Archer Daniels or Ford the categories Are Clear Oil processed agricultural products and cars. Johnson & Johnson s choices will be health related. But for widely diverse companies agreeing on a product can take months. The Eastman Kodak co., for example went to the negotiating table Long before the consortium was announced. It suggested nine projects soviet officials suggested another four. Then the weeding out began. The russians wanted to make photographic film Kodak decided it did not need More film capacity. Kodak suggested a film finishing operation the russians nixed it. They saw it As the Tail end of the process and they want to encourage self sufficiency explained David Harari manager of counter Trade activities at Kodak. The negotiators have finally settled on two projects floppy disks for computers and Eta chem a blood analyser. Both products Harari said fit in with Kodak s expansion strategy and with Russia s Pusan for self sufficiency. Personal computers Are proliferating in Russia he said and health care is a priority Issue for Gorbachev. To Harari the two products Are door openers not an end in themselves. We Hope to gradually evolve distribution ventures for a full Range of Kodak products in the soviet  if that Range includes a lot of consumer products Harari May be buying trouble. For consumer goods companies selecting products for the soviet Union can be like shooting at a target through an opaque screen. Consumer research is unknown there. That Means that companies must choose products with Only a hazy idea of whether soviet citizens would prefer them sweeter or saltier in pre packaged portions or family packs or any other variation on the theme. Rwjr which Hopes to make and sell baked goods cereals and cigarettes in Russia faces a huge product winnowing task. It had Little trouble deciding on cigarettes since american cigarettes generally sell Well across the world. Wheat based food items were also a natural Choice since wheat is plentiful in the soviet Union. But picking which wheat based products remains hit or miss. There has been seat of the pants research of a sort Carbonell and his executives brought crackers and cookies to try out on soviet officials during negotiations and discovered they liked Ritz and a few others. But in practical terms there is just no consumer preference data available. So far Rwjr has decided on Ritz and Premium crackers which Carbonell says have been successful in every Market Rwjr Sells to. And it is combing its worldwide sales data for other Cracker and cookie candidates. Soviet cartoon satirizes the Challenge of old ways portrayed by woman with Abacus is. The new As depicted by woman carrying a computer. 14 the stars and stripes monday August 22, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 15