EXPORTs
EXPORT TO EXPAND IN 2014 2014 is off to a good start as business optimism is on the rise. Profitability is on the rise; employment is growing at its fastest pace since 2007 and optimism is rising at its fastest rate since1989. We enter 2014 with strong signals of a recovery with trade and investment playing its part but it’s not enough. Our trade deficit was the biggest ever and the North West needs to play its part to address this. 2014 will be a year of consolidating recovery and to do this we need more exporters. We need more firms to look at opportunities in high growth emerging markets and see more businesses investing in technology, staff and growth. The UK has only 1% of world population. It is my intention to make 2014 the year when we take on the other 99%! Businesses that export are 34% more productive, 75% more innovative, do three times more R&D and are 12.5% more resilient than businesses that don’t. I believe an assessment of exporting potential should feature in all businesses’ plans for 2014; even if only as a future growth opportunity. In 2013, 50% of exports went to the EU, but this represents 7% of world population and only 19% of its GDP, so we have to look further afield to take advantage of where growth is happening.
Countries like Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey are future growth markets which I call the MIST nations. If you put the BRIC countries and the MIST countries together, they represent 50% of world population and 33% of world GDP and they are all seeing high levels of growth.” Exporting is not just for manufacturers. Services make up 80% of the UK economy but only 33% of exports so there is massive room for improvement. Since 2009, exports of manufactured goods have grown by 30% but services by only 8%. Many firms in the services sector simply don’t consider international trade but they need to get involved. In 2013 I set a challenge to find 1,000 new North West exporters – I hope that we can exceed this and really boost growth in the region in 2014. To contact the North West International Trade Team please call 0845 603 7053 or email info@uktinorthwest.co.uk
Clive Drinkwater, Regional Director, UKTI North West
Everybody knows the acronym BRIC, Brazil, Russia, India and China. These are powerful economies and growing at considerable speed.
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