Micromedical Technologies Inc. ships around the globe, but it is the credit market at home that has created the immediate uncertainty for sales and leasing of medical diagnostic equipment.

“The only place we’ve seen it is in the United States, where the leasing companies are less willing to give credit to doctors,” said Rick Miles, co-owner of the Chatham-based company with his wife, Diane.

The company, which has 24 employees at its headquarters on the south side of Chatham, makes high-tech equipment used to detect and treat dizziness and balance problems.

Miles said the company is in touch daily, mostly by e-mail, with sales representatives in markets as far-flung as China, South Korea, Ukraine, Malaysia and Poland, and that overseas sales have remained steady despite recent market turmoil.

“It’s not coming up yet in conversations. I’m wary, but we’re not seeing it yet,” Miles said, who added that while sales remain good, the company has put expansion and additional hiring on hold.

“I was going to hire another person and buy some more equipment. Now, it’s ‘Do I really want to do that today?’ Maybe I’ll wait until this settles out,” Miles said.

Conventional wisdom among economists has been that exports — Caterpillar Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland Co., to name two of the state’s largest — have helped Illinois avoid the worst of the economic downturn to hit both coasts.

Illinois typically ranks fifth or sixth annually among the nation’s largest exporting states.

Jim Foley, the director of the Turner Center for Entrepreneurship at Bradley University in Peoria said concerns of a worldwide recession appear to have had little effect yet on state exports, but there typically is a lag time between a slowdown and overseas orders.

“If you think about it, the monumental events have been in the past two or three weeks. Most of the products in central Illinois relate to manufacturing and infrastructure, and those pipelines tend to be longer in the order cycle,” Foley said.

The center, which is part of the Foster College of Business Administration, assists Illinois companies with sales to overseas markets, and Foley said the standard business advice applies — diversify.

“It’s a message we gave out after the ‘dot.com’ bust. You must invest in multiple overseas markets, and not be overly reliant on the U.S. market and not overly reliant on one or two international markets,” Foley said.

Design Ideas Inc., a Springfield-based distributor of office and home accessories to retail chains, has manufacturing plants in China, India, Thailand, Taiwan and Mexico, as well as sales offices in Germany, Japan and Britain.

Company president Andy Van Meter, who also is chairman of the Sangamon County Board, said overseas sales have not been affected, but “there’s plenty of anxiety all over the world.”

“In the early months of the crisis, there was this feeling it’s a United States problem. Now, they are really beginning to understand it’s a world problem,” Van Meter said.

The director of the Small Business Development Center in Springfield said there has been little effect on local loans to business. In fact, said Kevin Lust, it is the small-business owners who have turned cautious about borrowing and expansion.

“So far, the same set of rules apply. If you have good credit, you have capital and you have a good project, you can still get a loan,” Lust said.

Tim Landis can be reached at (217) 788-1536 or tim.landis@sj-r.com.

Illinois exports in 2007

--$48.7 billion, an increase of nearly 15.8 percent from 2006; sixth-largest exporter nationwide
--500,400 jobs related to exports
--1,576 foreign firms in the state with 5,330 locations

Top customers
--Canada: $13.31 billion
--Mexico: $3.62 billion
--Germany: $2.33 billion
--Australia: $2.23 billion
--United Kingdom: $2.22 billion

Top exports
--Machinery (excludes electrical): $12.66 billion
--Computers, electronic products and equipment: $8.39 billion
--Transportation equipment: $7.48 billion
--Chemicals: $6.18 billion
--Agricultural, food and related products: $3.78 billion

Sources: Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and U.S. Census Bureau.