Export-led recovery ‘a pipe dream’, says Close Bros barometer

Close Brothers Business Barometer, a quarterly survey of SMEs across the UK, suggests that he majority of UK manufacturing firms do not sell their goods or services overseas, dashing any hopes that exports might lift the UK "out of the current economic mire". Almost two thirds of manufacturing businesses polled said they did not export, mainly because of cash flow concerns and because "businesses simply think they have nothing to export". Steve Gee, managing director of the Manufacturing Division at Close Brothers Asset Finance, said: "Manufacturing firms must be more active in seeking and exploiting opportunities overseas. Even companies that are well positioned to export often do not. "We need to understand the barriers – perceived or otherwise, take measures to lower those barriers for manufacturers, and make exporting a possibility for them once again."