Black Country must exploit heritage in order to grow exports – Chamber
THE Black Country needs to exploit its historical standing as an industrial powerhouse in order to capitalise on overseas growth opportunities, the area’s chamber of commerce has said.
Chamber president Ninder Johal said the latest export figures for the West Midlands painted a rosy picture of the health of the region’s overseas trade which did not stand up under scrutiny.
“The regional results are encouraging but the year on year analysis disguises some volatility within the last year,” he said.
“Our exports remain 35% less than in the South East which is disappointing considering the region’s industrial heritage. We need to exploit our historical advantage and our burgeoning creativity if we are going to surpass the best regions in the country and indeed compete for business in the high growth parts of the world.”
He said while many firms understood the global opportunities that existed, more support was needed if they were to capitalise fully.
“We need to support business in managing risk and ensure that the relevant expertise is available. The Black Country Chamber of Commerce has joined forces with UKTI, the Overseas Business Network and the Black Country Growth Hub and will be looking to build relations with UK Export Finance to ensure that our business leaders are given all the support they need to demonstrate their global competitiveness,” he said.
The HMRC Regional Trade Statistics for the second quarter of 2014 show that year-on-year, the largest percentage increase in exports throughout the English regions was for the West Midlands – rising 16.1% to £28.3bn.
This now makes the West Midlands the third largest exporting region in England after the South East and London, which experienced the largest value decrease among the English regions following a fall of 14.5% in exports during the year.
The actual amount exported by West Midlands businesses in Q2 was £7.1bn but although this was 1% better than Q1, it was less than the £7.5bn exported during the last quarter of 2013.
The USA continues to be England’s top export partner country but for the year ending June 2014, China was the top export partner for the West Midlands.
Similar to the East Midlands, the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, the West Midlands experienced a decrease in the proportion of exports going to EU countries during the year. Of the £7.1bn exported during the second quarter 2014 only £2.8bn was with the EU.
