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Exporters turn away from EU to Asia

Asia has over-taken the EU as the market which promises the most growth, research from the IoD and All Party Parliamentary Group on Trade and Investment reveals.

1,162 IoD members were surveyed in November 2012, and an increasing percentage of businesses were active in Asia.

Half of IoD exporters said they were optimistic about Asia, and only 43% anticipated their export activity to grow in the EU over the next five years, a fall from 58% in 2010.

Alexander Ehmann, head of Enterprise Policy at the IoD and author of the report, said: “Given the ongoing troubles in Europe, it is perhaps not surprising that exporters are looking to emerging markets for growth.

“Expansion into new markets is critical if the UK is to address its truly alarming trade deficit. Policy-making should focus first on encouraging those firms for which export activity is only a small part of their business to expand to greater levels.”

Small companies reported being put off exporting because of their size, and 72% of companies which had never exported said they had no plans to do so.

Margot James MP, chair of the APPG on Trade and Investment, said: “It is our job to help remove the barriers facing exporters whilst also working to encourage more of our world class British businesses to take their products and services abroad.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .