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Trade to US and Japan surges as South East tops UK exports

The South East of England has strengthened its position as the UK’s biggest exporting region as trade with Japan and the US surges, according to new stats released by the HMRC.

According to the figures, the South East accounted for £40.5bn of the total goods exported in the UK last year, a 2.35% increase on the £39.6bn from the previous year.

The increase was partly driven by the large increase in trade to America and Japan; with exports to the United States growing by 42% to £7.96bn, while sales to Japan jumped by nearly 28% to £858m.

Exports to the US were mainly focused around the key sectors of chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, while the Japanese were big buyers of South East food items, such as cereals, along with medicinal and pharmaceutical products.

Germany (£4bn), France (£2.55bn) and the Irish Republic (£2.09bn) also placed highly on the list of top export regions for the South East.

Following the release of the statistics, Lewis Scott, Regional Director for UK Trade & Investment South East, commented: “The continuing rise in overseas trade once again demonstrates the excellent diversity of the South East economy, its businesses and where they export.

“To inspire and help first time exporters from initial interest to exporting overseas, the Government has just launched its flagship Exporting is GREAT (EIG) initiative led by UKTI.

“As part of this campaign the year-long EIG Roadshow will visit the South East in May 2016 to connect local businesses with hundreds of export opportunities sourced by the government’s international network.”