GDP figures for Japan, France and Germany were released this week and they showed over 0.3% growth, great news in that it shows that the global economy is definitely on the mend. One of the main driving factors of this unexpected recovery is export, which is also great for the Euro Zone and something I believe to be the best possible way for any country to make it out of this recession.
So why is it then, that some countries are taking the export boat and paddling like crazy and others, like the UK, are well behind, watching the boat sail away with other people on it?!
Below are the first quarter export figures by region for the UK:
| North West | +3.2% |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | -14.8% |
| Midlands | -14.1% |
| East | -9.5% |
| London | -17.2% |
| South East | -15.6% |
| South West | -3.1% |
It doesn’t make particularly good reading, and it certainly doesn’t bode well for trying to close the trade deficit that the UK has. So, back to the question of why some countries are on that boat and others aren’t.
The EU commissioned a report to look at the barriers to trade in the EU. They identified four main barriers and they were Language, Customer Acquisition, Cross Border Payments and Logistics. Now, the one thing that Japan, France and Germany have over English speaking countries is, they aren’t afraid of language – so is that where the UK is going wrong??
If it is then that is very unfortunate because it’s actually not that difficult!
We designed Export Box as a simple way for companies to get exporting into new markets and fortunately for the UK many are taking this up, let’s hope many more do and the next set of figures make for more pleasant reading.