international trade
UK Export growth is stagnant so firms look for new overseas markets for future growth – your Chamber can help Your Chamber’s West London Export Club is renowned for their award-winning exporting expertise, with many companies based there managing to trade successfully in overseas markets, after all £400bn of goods travel through Heathrow airport and its surrounding cargo hubs annually. However, it has been a tough time for exporters. A survey of more than 2,700 UK exporters has revealed that export sales growth has been effectively stagnant for the past year. The British Chambers of Commerce’s quarterly Trade Confidence Outlook showed that the proportion of exporters reporting increased overseas sales was unchanged from Q4 at 29%, while those reporting a decrease rose one point to 25%. The data showed that manufacturers were more likely to report increased export sales than either business-to-business (B2B) service firms (such as lawyers or accountants) or business-toconsumer (B2C) service firms (such as online clothing stores). Conversely, though, B2B service exporters were more likely
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than either manufacturers or B2C service exporters to expect profitability to increase in the coming year. Responding to the findings, William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “This data confirms our concerns – that for the last year there was a broadly flat picture for UK exports. This is in contrast with the performance of our near neighbours, with Germany’s exports both within and outside the Single Market steaming ahead by double-digit margins and with trade losses from the pandemic already effectively recovered.
“UK exporters are facing the headwinds of higher red tape costs from trading with the EU, raised raw material pressures, and ongoing issues in global
shipping markets. If we are to realise the aspirations of the UK government’s Export Strategy then 2022 has to be the year where these structural factors holding back our exporters are addressed.
A quarterly survey of more than a thousand companies that trade overseas showed that 37 per cent named international markets as sources of growth, compared with only 34 per cent citing the UK market.
“Sustained export growth should be powering our economic recovery from the pandemic. Chambers and their members are already working hard to increase exports but need more substantive measures from government now.”
It’s the first time since the Santander UK trade barometer research began in 2017 that overseas markets have trumped the domestic market as the main driver for company growth.
Another survey has also pinpointed international markets as a key driver of future growth for companies. Mike Fraser MP Minister for Exports said “There are vast areas of untapped export potential across the UK. One in seven firms with a turnover over £500k are not exporting and could be”
A quarter of the companies said that they were now selling more in international markets than before Brexit on January 1, 2021, up from only 17 per cent previously.
