New figures show drop in North East exports

Exports from the North East have declined recently, despite some growth in other areas such as manufactured goods.

The latest figures, released by HM Revenue & Customs showed that during the first three months of 2013 the total value of exports dropped to £3.141bn from £3.205bn in the previous quarter.

This gave a 12 month rolling value of £13.301 billion, which represented a fall of 4.1 per cent compared with the 12 months rolling total up to the end of December 2012.

Nationally, there was a fall in UK export value of around 4.71 per cent over the same period.

Exports of Manufactured goods recorded a 99.58 per cent growth, giving a total of £796 million.

David Coppock, Regional Director for UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) in the North East said: “It is disappointing that the last two quarters have seen a fall in the region’s exports, which means our 12 months total has fallen from what was a record high during 2012.

“But there are still signs of growth in many markets and some industry sectors, particularly manufactured goods and we are keen to encourage more companies to export to more markets. I would still like to see 500 new SME exporters from the region by 2015.”

“QMDx was a very worthy winner of our Exporting for Growth prize and is clearly leading the way in its field of expertise.

“I hope the company’s success will inspire and encourage others to take up the export for growth challenge.

QuantuMDx Group Ltd (QMDx) is an emerging biotech company that specialises in the development of diagnostic and sequencing handheld medical devices.

Launched five years ago, it has become a multi-national company, now based at Newcastle’s Centre for Life where it employs 35 staff.

Elaine Warburton, CEO at QMDx,said: “Accessing international markets is a key part of our strategy and will help our technology to positively impact on the healthcare of people worldwide.

“We already have access to Asian research expertise and markets via our wholly-owned Singapore-based subsidiary, QuantuMDX Asia.

“We’ve had a wealth of support from UKTI as the company has grown and the Exporting for Growth prize has enabled us to look at other potential markets including India, the USA and Japan.

“India will be a key market for Q-POC™’s first tests – a malaria diagnostic and a Warfarin dosing test, for which we are currently running trials in India.

“We also have a business development office in the USA and we’ll be working with UKTI to establish high-level contacts there, as well as in India and Japan, to help us establish QMDx in those markets.”

“Accessing international markets is a key part of our strategy and will help our technology to positively impact on the healthcare of people worldwide.

“Encouraging new investment and exports is crucial to the success of the Government’s Plan for Growth, which has set ambitious targets to more than double the value of exports to £1 trillion by 2020.

“And we will be continuing our efforts, working closely with partners across the region, to encourage more North East companies to take up the export for growth challenge and support them every step of the way,”

According to the latest quarterly figures, released today, the Netherlands is now the largest single market for North East goods with £1.551 billion exported in the 12 months up to March 2013.

The USA has now dropped to second place with £1.45 billion worth of goods exported from the region.

According to the report, exports of organic chemicals increased by 3.04 per cent, or £23m, to give a total of £809 million.

Road vehicles fell by, 7.8%to £5.009 billion, medicinal and pharmaceutical, -16.68% to £1.98 billion, power generating machinery, - 18.62% to £762 million and electrical machinery, -14.37% to £438,184 million.

David Coppock said: “Encouraging new investment and exports is crucial to the success of the Government’s Plan for Growth, which has set ambitious targets to more than double the value of exports to £1 trillion by 2020.

“And we will be continuing our efforts, working closely with partners across the region, to encourage more North East companies to take up the export for growth challenge and support them every step of the way,”