North exporters lead the country on sales

Dec 17 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

NORTH East exporters have pushed ahead to record the country’s highest rate of export growth and have cemented the region’s position as the only one in England to sell more goods overseas than it buys.

The North East exported goods worth £11.507bn in the year to the end of September, a rise of 27.8% on the previous 12 months, according to figures from HM Revenue & Customs. The growth rate was more than double the national average of 12.9%.

The North East was also the only English region to show a positive balance of trade, which stood at £2.125bn.

The US remains the region’s biggest export market, growing by a massive 58.5% during the year to be worth £1.866bn, despite the worldwide economic downturn.

David Coppock, UK Trade & Investment’s international trade director, said: “The North East’s international trade performance continues to show good growth at a time when the world’s economies are showing signs of slowdown.

“The effect of this slowdown is not fully reflected in these figures, so while we’re obviously delighted with the region’s continuing strong performance we know there may be more testing times ahead.

“Companies wanting to take the opportunity of breaking into export markets in order to beat the downturn and to take advantage of the weak pound should talk to UK Trade & Investment.”

The weak pound has traditionally been seen as a positive for exporters but its effects have been undermined by associated higher costs of importing raw materials for manufacturing, coupled with the global slowdown.

The Government statistics also showed a slight increase in the number of North East businesses starting to export, with the figure growing by an average of 3% each quarter compared to the same period last year.

The region’s successful export record is underpinned by its strong manufacturing base. North East manufacturers, benefiting from the booming oil and gas industry, employ almost 200,000 people or up to 20% of the region’s workforce compared to the national average of 10%.

Ian Williams, One North East director of business and industry, said: “Oil and gas, process industries and new and renewables are three sectors in particular which are performing well, creating wealth and opportunity across the region.

“We are under no illusions about the challenges the economic downturn presents, but the region’s diverse business base makes it better placed than it has been in the past to deal with the blows dealt by the credit crunch.”