A startling statistic – over half the businesses that get help from UK Trade & Investment go on to win additional sales of over £600,000 within two years.
The UK’s trade performance is often discussed in the abstract, or at the macroeconomic level. People look at the effect on UK GDP or the balance of payments.
But when it comes down to it, exports are all about British businessmen and women making the decision not to stay stuck in a groove, but to venture out to find new customers.
The role of UKTI is to help such businesses – sitting down with them to find out which markets suit them, working up concrete plans and linking them up with the right people to make the deals that make the difference.
This week is Export Week, and UKTI has set up events around the country to encourage more businesses to export.
About two-thirds of UKTI’s staff are located overseas, working as part of the FCO’s network.
And if you’re wondering what they get up to, I can recommend a blog written by Dan Rutstein, Head of UKTI Germany, who has been helping to sell Sunseeker Yachts, made in Dorset, to sun-seeking Germans.
Because while the headline economic news from Europe can make gloomy reading, there are plenty of bright spots to focus on.
Look at exports of food and drink, our biggest manufacturing sector, which employs half a million people in the UK.
Nine out of the top ten export markets for the UK’s food and drink sector in 2012 are in the EU. Last year, exports in this sector rose by 1.7% to Ireland (our top food and drink market overall) by 7.7% to Germany, by 16.5% to Sweden, and by 52.6% to Bulgaria.
Decisions to export are made by companies. But Government has a role in creating the most favourable conditions.
And that’s why we are pushing so strongly for the world’s biggest trade deal – a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the EU and the US, that could set the standard for trade deals worldwide.
The Prime Minister will be discussing this in Washington this week with President Obama.
Businesses across the UK would gain, as this study shows.
And, to end on another interesting statistic, the Centre for Economic Policy Research estimates that this deal alone could benefit a family of four by £460 a year.
Click here for the national programme for Export Week. Prime Minister David Cameron’s article on the EU-US deal, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, can be read on this link.