Does the future of successful Yorkshire businesses lie in the international market?

As the general election fastly approaches, without a clear favourite in site, there is a renewed interest in British politics, especially from intrigued voters in all different business sectors. This is no different in the county of Yorkshire, which has traditionally been a stronghold for the Labour party, but as the region’s businesses seems to have become divided about who to vote for, will Yorkshire’s economic climate suffer?

Whatever happens after this unpredictable general election, one thing the region’s SMEs can seemingly rely on is seeing the benefits of the government’s pledge to double the country’s export value.

Earlier this month, FedEx Express published its findings from the UK Export Epicentresreport, and revealed that the region to have seen the most growth in the export marketplace is Yorkshire, as Bradford lead’s the country with an 86% export rate, thus meaning the West Yorkshire city has the highest percentage of SMEs exporting anywhere in the UK.

Closely following is Leeds, which had the joint second highest percentage of SMEs exporting with 81% - the same as London, Manchester and Southampton.

There are many reasons for Yorkshire’s SMEs finding huge success in the international market, but two key factors seem to be the driving force behind the the expansion into the export marketplace.

One major catalyst is that Yorkshire SMEs are able to capitalize on the region’s rich and appealing heritage, which very few region’s can offer customers abroad. But the most significant factor is undoubtedly the Humber. The UK’s busiest port complex has several strategic advantages for international trade, including access within four hours drive time to 75% of the UK’s manufacturing facilities and 40 million people.

In addition, there is also likely to be an increase in Yorkshire businesses trading in the international market because of the HumberPort partnership, which is currently going through a revitalisation to capitalize on the momentum achieved by the branding of the Humber as the UK’s Energy Estuary. This has attracted substantial investments from big players such as Siemens, as well as the development of a £450m Able Marine Energy Park on the south bank of the Humber. These will all contribute into vastly improving the Humber’s capabilities of handling international trade.

One example of a business thriving in the international market is the York-based visual specialists Saville Audio Visual, which recently completed a contractto provide an innovative, interactive conference recording and playback system for a global pharmaceutical company in the US. Audio AV were able to carry out this contract after securing temporary goods export certification and an ATA Carnet, through overseas trade specialist Chamber International.

Despite what state the economic climate is on a national scale, can Yorkshire businesses continue to thrive by investing in the international market?