New data has highlighted how a range of global economic factors are hampering growth efforts for small and medium-sized exporters. 

Data from more than 2,300 UK SMEs as part of the British Chamber of Commerce’s quarterly Trade Confidence Outlook for Q4 found that just one in four had seen international sales growth at the backend of 2022, with a further 47% saying sales had stagnated if not fallen. 

The picture for 2023 looks equally stagnant too with 28% expecting a sales slump against 24% saying they could see an increase in demand. 

Total revenues are expected to rise though as cost pressures and shrinking margins mean 64% of respondents are planning to increase pricing over the coming months. 

Difficult business environment

Consumers and businesses alike have struggled in the post-pandemic era to really kick on once more with the cost of living, inflation and economic headwinds driven by the war in Ukraine contributing to a trading environment some are finding more difficult than during the lockdowns. 

Additional factors such as Brexit have made it tougher, and more expensive, for UK firms in particular to access the EU market. 

Respondents to the BCC survey noted that energy (72%), labour (67%) and raw materials (61%) were the biggest cost pressures being faced – three critical areas that it’s hard to mitigate against. 

Head of policy at the Chamber, Willian Bain, said of the survey results that: “Last autumn the World Trade Organisation forecast global trade growth of just 1% in 2023, down from 3% in 2022. This is creating huge headwinds for smaller UK firms battered by the pandemic, Brexit and energy price shocks. 

“Against this background, it could be some time before the global shipping and trading systems return to anything approaching normality. 

“The UK government cannot afford to sit idly by as we head into such uncertain trading conditions. It must throw a lifeline to our struggling exporters who are desperately trying to keep their heads above water.”

Download now: 7 key changes to UK-EU trade post-Brexit

Bain continued: “Outside of the EU, the US is our biggest trading partner, and the one that BCC members are most interested in, yet progress on free trade talks are stalled. As the Good Friday Agreement anniversary looms the UK has a golden opportunity to transform our trading relationship with our two biggest export markets in one fell swoop. 

“Other measures Government should consider include providing effective end-to-end trade finance and setting up a trade accelerator – by working alongside our global network to help firms enter new markets and maximise sales.” 

The majority of exporters in the UK don’t understand the principles behind the government’s future plans to digitise international trade. 

According to a poll during an IOE&IT webinar last month, just 13% of participants on the call understood key terms to do with the digitisation strategy, including ‘single trade window’ and ‘ecosystem of trust’, and aren’t currently making preparations surrounding the 2025 Border Strategy. 

Deputy director of the IOE&IT Academy, Vicky Payne, said it wasn’t a surprise that such a low number were aware of upcoming changes to UK export rules and procedures, saying that: “They’re new terms for traders and anyone involved in international trade to get used to.

“It is new to people, but you need to start following government updates about programs like the Single Trade Window because it will become more important going forward.”

The digitalisation of trade is expected to add around 1% to UK GDP with over £200 billion in efficiency savings according to the International Chamber of Commerce, but with all the upheaval surrounding Brexit and businesses having to adapt to a new trading environment with the EU, it’s no surprise that exporting firms are yet to look further down to locate new challenges. 

Read more: Irish trade re-focuses on EU markets, away from GB

However, both the single trade window, and ecosystem of trust, could really help exporting firms mitigate some of the additional red tape, costs and delays seen in the wake of Brexit by helping to streamline and standardise processes. 

Whilst UK trade bodies believe that a potential functional launch date for the scheme of 2027 is doable, 40% of those attending the IOE&IT webinar said that lack of internal IT skills and resources would be a major stumbling block to adopting any new trading system, though over half said it would benefit speed and efficiency of international trading operations.

Data from Dublin Port has shown how trade volume into Great Britain has fallen since Brexit, whilst exports into the EU have grown. 

From January to September last year, overall port throughput fell 3.3% compared to the year before, whilst imports saw a small 0.4% rise. 

CEO of Dublin Port, Eamonn O’Reilly, noted that there has been a switch in trade activity since Brexit. 

He said: “After nine months, the impact of Brexit on the profile of Dublin Ports’ trade has become clear with volumes on unitised services to Great Britain declining by just over one-fifth while volumes on services to Continental Europe increased by more than a more a third.

“Because of this, our unitised volumes are now split 50/50 between GB ports and ports in Continental Europe. Before Brexit, GB ports accounted for almost two-thirds.”

This shift in the direction of trade activity is having a negative impact on the port, with the volume of trailers moving through the port reducing. Almost 60,000 driver-accompanied loads that would have been expected before Brexit are now going through as unaccompanied trailers. 

Read more: UK-EU trade flows down a fifth against no-Brexit expectations

O’Reilly commented further: “This is bad news from a port capacity perspective.

“Our interpretation of this is that the average size of a load in a single container or trailer has reduced because operational efficiencies which the Single European Market had facilitated in trade with Britain has been removed because of Brexit.”

Get post-Brexit trade support

If your business is still working to adapt to the post-Brexit trading environment, Go Exporting can help. Our free post-Brexit planning checklist is a great place to start with ensuring you have everything in place to best mitigate – and look to take advantage of – the new trading arrangement. 

For strategic support and advice, learn more about our Brexit consultancy services.

Exports from UK businesses into the EU trading bloc are starting to recover following Brexit and the impact of Covid-19, but almost half of firms say total trading volume is still less than it was. 

In a webinar hosted by Pail McComb of the Department for International Trade, data shared indicated that exports to the continent have increased 11% in four quarters to 2022, noting that ‘in overall trade we’re definitely seeing an increase, and the trend is in the right direction, but maybe the pace of recovery isn’t quite as quick as we would have wanted’. 

Data from delegates on the webinar pointed to 45% saying that their exports to the EU had been negatively impacted, with a quarter saying things were about the same as before Brexit. Just 3% said export volumes have increased over the period. 

Watch the webinar in full below:

Issues with new compliance and regulations was cited as the main reason why UK exporters were meeting challenges, with 47% saying that compliance with the new rules was their primary problem, whilst one in three said new additional costs were hampering export efforts. 

If your business has faced challenges exporting into the EU following the UK’s departure from the Single Market, then Go Exporting can help. 

We have three free resources you can access right now to help check where you are right now, and to plan for the procedural and strategic changes you should be making to ensure your business can look to capitalise on the potential benefits of Brexit, as well as advice for EU firms looking to export into the British Isles. 

Access our resources below:

• Post-Brexit Planning Checklist
• 7 Key Changes to UK-EU Trade Post-Brexit
• Checklist for exporting from the EU to the UK post-Brexit

New data has shown how the value of UK exports globally have risen since Brexit. 

Figures from The Office for National Statistics detailed how exports to the EU rose 7.9% in July this year, worth £1.3 billion. Exports to non-EU countries also grew by 5.4% and £800 million. 

Despite difficulties for UK exporters trading with the EU following Brexit, growth was seen this summer thanks to higher demand and increased exports of fuel, machinery and transport equipment. 

The UK’s GDP also saw a small uplift of 0.2% during that time, despite an increasingly difficult economic situation for both the UK and EU nations as the recovery from Covid was halted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Business Brexit wounds still evident

Despite strong trade growth this summer, the picture for UK businesses has been difficult since the UK’s departure from the European Union and, in particular, the Single Market. 

Read more: One in three UK exporters have stopped international trade activity

Since the departure, 33% of UK exporters have ceased export activity with the EU bloc with most blaming a new raft of red tape and increased costs of doing business. 

If your business is struggling in the post-Brexit trading environment, then here at Go Exporting, we can help. 

Download our free guide on 7 Key Changes to UK-EU Trade Post-Brexit right here.

Exports of steel heading from Great Britain into Northern Ireland could soon face huge tariffs after the EU changed steel quota rules. 

Enacted due to the war in Ukraine and relating to the Northern Ireland protocol, new tariffs on certain steel products could hit 25%. 

Industry group, UK Steel, has already appealed to the government to suspend tariffs immediately, saying it’s ‘farcical that UK producers are now prevented by these tariffs from selling goods to customers in their own country’. 

Steel exports from GB into Northern Ireland had been tariff-free thanks to the tariff rate quota covering UK exports into the EU. 

The TRQ rules mean that certain products can be moved from country to country without tariffs being paid, so long as they don’t breach a quota mark. 

But the EU updated these rules in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, intended to give EU steel importers more flexibility in the absence of trading with Russia – resulting in quotas of GB supplies into NI hitting the limit faster than usual. 

Read more: Import taxes to be cut on goods from developing nations

Steel industry specialist Sam Lowe told the BBC that: “Whereas before the UK had access to its own country-specific quota, which it could rely on to accommodate steel moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, now these movements would be covered by the ‘other countries’ quota which could fill up much more quickly, given the entire world has access to it.

“Once it is full: 25% tariff on steel moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.”

The UK government has so far commented to say this is an example of the Northern Ireland Protocol ‘needlessly damaging trade within the UK’.