The UK’s Minister for Exports has urged British business to make more of the Government help on offer to support them in building overseas sales.
Speaking on a visit to three Leicestershire exporters, Mike Freer MP said less than 15 per cent of firms that could were selling their products and services abroad.
And he said there was no reason to fear potential barriers and red tape caused by Brexit.
He told BusinessLive: “I think the key messages are that only one in seven companies that can export, do, and there is a massive opportunity out there.
“And if anybody thinks they want to export or talk about the opportunities then they should get in contact with our local teams. We have teams on standby who will hold their hand and help them make that first overseas sale.
“Once they’ve done it I think they’ll find it’s easier than they expected and more profitable, as we know that exporting companies are more profitable and tend to have more higher skilled jobs which is good for the local economy as well.”
Back on New Year’s Eve Boris Johnson vowed to “maximise the benefits of Brexit” in 2022 as consumers were warned to brace for fresh disruption due to new rules that were coming into play.
The Prime Minister, marking a year since the post-Brexit free trade deal with the European Union came into force, said the Government would “go further and faster” to take advantage of the “enormous potential that our new freedoms bring” in the new year.
The start of 2022 ushered in new barriers to trade with the bloc, with rules stating that importers must make a full customs declaration on goods entering the UK from the EU or other countries.
Traders will no longer be able to delay completing full import customs declarations for up to 175 days, a measure that was introduced to cope with the disruption of Brexit.
Long HGV queues on both sides of the Channel in recent days have partly been put down to drivers failing to fill in the right paperwork.
Mr Freer spoke on a visit to Long Clawson Dairy, near Melton, one of the region’s handful of Stilton cheese makers.
He was also visiting the Leicester head office of anti-bacterial products manufacturer Micro-Fresh, which has operations around the world, and Loughborough medicines manufacturer Morningside Pharmaceuticals.
Mr Freer said: “As the Exports Minister my job is to make sure that the markets that we are operating in and the markets that we should be operating in are open to producers and exporters.
“But it’s also about listening to the concerns they’ve got and any particular barriers they are coming up against when they try to act in a new market.”
He said there was a “massive” appetite for British products abroad but said many companies were facing “headwinds” such as supply chain costs, labour shortages and tariffs in some markets.
He said: “Every company globally has to deal with those headwinds.
“What the Department for International Trade can do, particularly with dealing with our European markets – which is still a very big and important market for us – is we have the Export Support Service, which is specifically designed to help exporters like Long Clawson where they come across a particular problem, which might be paperwork or overzealous interpretation of rules.
“Whatever the issue is in a particular market or port even, we raise it with our European counterparts to get the issue resolved.”
Long Clawson exports about 20 per cent of its cheese and key markets are the US, Australia and some shipments to New Zealand.
Asked if management at Long Clawson had said they had been badly affected by Brexit, he said: “Not particularly.
“We talked about global markets – they are already exporting to 42 countries and they realise there is a massive market out there and they were talking to us about how they can tap into those new growing markets, not just the markets that they are already dealing with.
“They recognise that there is a growth in the economies and middle classes and the spending power that that brings, outside the EU, particularly in the Asia Pacific region.”
Micro-Fresh founder Byron Dixon OBE said he raised the point that post-Brexit Canada has added more red tape over the safety classifications of imports such as his products - despite them already passing safety checks at home.
He also said products sent to his Netherlands distributor were being taxed again when they were sent outside the EU.
He said the Minister had listened to his concerns and taken notes.
Morningside has been making and supplying generic medicines to the UK and countries around the world for three decades.
It is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of medicines to international aid organisations.
Founder and chairman Dr Nik Kotecha OBE is also a Department for International Trade (DIT) Export Champion.
He said: “We are delighted to welcome Minister Mike Freer MP to our Loughborough site, which like so many East Midlands businesses benefits from excellent road and rail links, as well as our proximity to the largest pure cargo airport in the UK, East Midlands Airport.
“Morningside is a manufacturer and supplier of generic medicines, and has exported to more than 120 countries since inception.
“We’re immensely proud to be based in the East Midlands, which alongside the West Midlands is the manufacturing and exporting heartland of England.
“We hope the Minister for Exports’ visit helps to highlight the excellent global opportunities available for companies based in the region, as well as opens doors to central government funding to support the future growth of our businesses and communities.”
