Trade figures recently released by HM Revenue and Customs reveal that the East of England’s export to non-EU destinations is growing at the astonishing rate of 16.4% year on year. Non-EU exports now account for 43.8% cent of the region’s trade as opposed to 36.5% cent in 2011.
The total value of exports from the region during the final three months of 2012 (October-December) was £6.7 billion. This represented a 1.6 per cent increase on the previous quarter and gave an annual total of £26.7 billion.
Exports provide an indication of how international regions are in their outlook, and how able they are to face global competition. These figures show that businesses in the East of England understand the need to explore new markets in the face of continued economic uncertainty in the eurozone area. However, exports to EU markets still account for 56.1% of all exports within the East of England and so their position as a major trading partner cannot be underestimated.
Tracey Howard, International Trade Director of Norfolk Chamber said, “It’s great to see such fantastic results for our region. Among these numbers were increasing rates year on year, for exports to some of the BRIC regions such as Brazil (19%), India (13%) and Russia (21%).
Both the EU and non-EU markets are currently full of opportunities, as highlighted in our recent Global Marketplace series of events.
We are now looking at our events programme for 2013/14 and are planning to host some workshops, to help local firms get on the starting ladder to successful exporting.”
