On Wednesday 17 November 2021, the Government launched an ambitious new ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ plan to help businesses across the UK double exports and sell their world-class products around the globe.
The 12-point export strategy – published by the Department for International Trade will give businesses the tools they need to become a nation of exporters and reap the benefits of our free trade deals.
An Export Support Service is included in the plans. This will offer advice for exporting. A new UK Tradeshow Programme will be better-tailored to help businesses, particularly those outside London and the South East, to promote their products around the world.
DIT will also be expanding its Export Academy, which was launched in October, to include Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The academy will invite owners and managers of SMEs to access masterclasses, roundtables and networking events to help them overcome challenges first-time exporters often face.
The UK exported £600 billion in goods and services last year but only around one in ten GB of businesses currently export and the number of goods exporters fell behind continental competitors like Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Unlocking the UK’s exporting potential will boost the UK’s economy, with Government commissioned research estimating that exports supported 6.5 million jobs across the UK in 2016, and showing that exporters pay higher wages. Separate analysis shows that goods exporting businesses are on average 21 per cent more productive.
International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan is calling on businesses to ‘Race to a Trillion’ by seizing huge untapped opportunities on offer in the world’s fast-growing markets.
The strategy – titled ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ – will see the Government work with businesses to help them to succeed in the global marketplace through a first-class export support framework.
The 12-point strategy includes:
- Launching the ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ campaign, championing the UK’s priority sectors through an innovative, localised marketing campaign that will promote the best of British goods and services in our towns and cities.
- The Export Support Service provides a single point of contact for exporters to Europe.
- UK Export Academy expansion to offer SMEs in all parts of the UK, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the chance to learn how to navigate the technicalities of exporting and how to find new opportunities in overseas markets.
- A new UK Tradeshow Programme will be bigger and better targeted to give UK companies, especially SMEs, a leg-up to exhibit their first-class products at the world’s biggest tradeshows.
- UK Export Finance – our world-leading export credit agency – will expand its offer with new products and a wider delivery network that will make it easier for UK exporters to secure business from overseas buyers.
- Export Champions, ensuring businesses can build and learn from exporting successes through business-to-business networking and peer-to-peer learning.
- Internationalisation Fund, open to SMEs in England, will aim to grow international sales and has facilitated £4 million of support to SMEs attending Trade Fairs.