Brexit: One Fifth of Small UK Exporters Have Temporarily Halted EU Sales
Why are some small British exporters halting all EU sales for the time being? And what role does Brexit play in this? Come check out our article to find out.
Small British exporters are being hit hard by the Brexit trade deal, which is burdening them with new, incredibly demanding, and unfamiliar paperwork that discourages them from doing business with the European Union (EU). According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), British goods exports to the union plunged by 40.7% in January compared to December 2020, while imports fell 28.8%.
“Those that do business internationally are being hit with some incredibly demanding, unfamiliar paperwork...What we hoped would prove to be teething problems are in danger of becoming permanent, systemic ones,” stated Mike Cherry, the National Chairman at FSB.
Thus, after the new trading rules went into effect at the beginning of the year, one in every five small British exporters (approximately 23%) have temporarily stopped sales to EU customers, while a further 4% have already decided to stop selling into the bloc permanently. Moreover, one in ten (11%) exporters are now even contemplating permanently ceasing all sales to Europe. The same proportion has already established or is considering setting up a presence in an EU country to facilitate their exporting processes. Meanwhile, another 9% are considering, or are already using, warehousing space in the union or Northern Ireland (NI) for the same purpose.
According to the Fresh Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), issues that initially appeared to be temporary are now taking much longer to resolve. Therefore, the federation is urging the government to implement new measures to assist small businesses during this period of transition. This includes making it easier for small businesses to gain access to a variety of trading, training, and technology advice, as well as establishing new free trade agreements.
Unless more is done to ease the burden on those that do business overseas and increase access to markets outside the EU, there will be long-lasting, significant impacts.
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