Most SME Exporters Seeing No Improvement

Most SME Exporters Seeing No Improvement

BCC’s Trade Confidence Outlook for Q4 2023 sees SME exports continuing to languish  Half of all SME exporters (50%) saw no change in overseas sales, and 24% reported a decrease.   Only a quarter of exporting SME firms (26%) saw their overseas sales rise in Q4. BCC indicators show exports have consistently…

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Common Sense Approach To Product Marking Welcomed

Responding to the Government’s latest announcement on conformity assessment marking, BCC Head of Trade Policy, William Bain, said:    “Business will welcome this common-sense approach to showing that products sold in Great Britain have met safety, health and environmental rules. Crucially, it will help keep costs down for firms and…

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BCC Welcomes UK Supply Chain Strategy

BCC Welcomes UK Supply Chain Strategy Responding to the release of the Government’s Critical Imports and Supply Chain Strategy, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy, at the British Chambers of Commerce said: “This strategy provides a substantial and compelling picture of the reliance an open trading economy, like the UK’s,…

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Surprise Rise In Inflation As Uncertainty Remains

Responding to the latest inflation figures from the ONS, David Bharier, Head of Research at the British Chambers of Commerce said:      “Consumer price inflation remains stubborn with a slightly higher than expected growth rate of 4% in December 2023, and no change in core inflation at 5.1%. However, producer…

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Business Pressures Persist As Labour Market Cools

Responding to the latest labour market data from ONS, Jane Gratton, Deputy Director Public Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce said:   “Today’s data confirms labour market conditions are continuing to cool, with wage growth and the number of vacancies falling once again. However, labour costs remain a huge…

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Quarterly Recruitment Outlook: Hiring Headaches And Labour Costs Loom Large

Over three quarters (76%) of firms attempting to recruit faced difficulties Firms in the hospitality sector remain the most likely to report challenges in hiring staff (82%) 68% of companies say labour costs are a financial pressure 59% of companies attempted to recruit in the quarter The latest Quarterly Recruitment…

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Uncertain Times Ahead For Global Trade

Reacting to the ONS trade data for November 2023, William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, said:    “The positives are there was a pick-up in some export sectors in goods trade with the EU, particularly in automotive sales. Services also remained steady for a further month, with only very small…

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Economic Growth Remains Fragile

Responding to the latest GDP data from the ONS, Alex Veitch, Director of Policy and Insight at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:    “Today’s ONS data, showing GDP grew 0.3% in November, but fell 0.2% in the three months to then, indicates how fragile UK economic growth is right now.  …

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BCC Quarterly Economic Survey: Business Confidence Boost Fails To Revive Investment

Business confidence improves in Q4, with 56% of UK businesses expecting an increase in turnover in the next twelve months. Despite this boost, most firms continue to report no improvement to sales, cash flow or investment. Downward trend in price growth expectations ends with more expecting their prices to rise…

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Businesses Say Hybrid Working Is Here To Stay

New research by the British Chambers of Commerce Insights Unit and technology firm Cisco, shows less than 30% of firms expect their workforce to be fully in person over the next five years.    A survey of over 1,000 businesses, of which 96% were SMEs, found just 27% of respondents…

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