More and more UK businesses are now trading across borders, whether that be importing goods from China or Europe, whether that be selling on-line to businesses or consumers in America or beyond.
The ease of electronic sales channels, ease of communication and accessible logistics all mean that importing and exporting is no longer the domain of large businesses alone.
- Total UK exports of services increased from £89,523 million in 2010 to £97,311 million in 2011
- Total UK imports of services increased by 4% from £42,074 million in 2010 to £43,564 million in 2011
- Between 2009 and 2010 there was virtually no change
- The UK continues to be a net exporter of services
What Are The Barriers To Doing More?
This is always a mute point. There are a number of good government supported initiatives and good sources of information available (see gov.uk or Sussex Enterprise), however the most popular question we get asked is about how to finance trading abroad.
The simple answer here is the same as any trading finance, understand your cash cycle. If you are unsure of what that is, or how to work it out then contact us and we will do it for you.
After this it is about knowing what your options are to finance the period the transaction covers, in many cases this is about establishing a regular option of finance which enables you to finance present and future import & export deals.
There are a number of ‘products’ out there to help, but make sure you have some idea of what you need before you go looking.
We will cover off your options in a future post, for now if you have any questions about how to finance, what to finance, or simply can I finance, then get in touch and we will talk you through it.