Companies across Coventry and Warwickshire are grasping the exporting nettle – according to new figures from the Chamber.
Growing exports is key to a sustained economic recovery and the Government wants to reach £1trillion worth of overseas sales per year by 2020.
And, according to the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce’s latest statistics, more firms in the region are taking their goods and services overseas.
In July, the Chamber processed 433 export documents on behalf of companies across Coventry and Warwickshire which is way up on its usual monthly figure.
Gurpaal Virdee, the Chamber’s Export Document Officer, said: “We’d normally process between 250 and 300 export documents per month – so to hit 433 for July shows that companies in this area really do appear to be pushing forward with exporting.
“The Chamber is now using an online processing system called ‘e-z Cert World’ and 90 per cent of the documents we helped to process in July were done in this way.
“It’s such a simple and easy way for companies to obtain the necessary documentation and accreditation they require when exporting and anything that helps companies to do that has to be good for the individual firms, Coventry and Warwickshire and the country as a whole.
“Many other Chambers use this same system and from looking at figures from other regions, Coventry and Warwickshire is performing extremely well.”
Overall, the exports carried out with the support of the Chamber’s document service amount to around £22.5 million worth of sales for the region with firms from a broad cross-section of industries taking advantage of the service. They include everything from chemicals to telecommunications.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Kazakhstan and the UAE proved to be the most popular destinations for exports utilising the documentation system.
Members of the Chamber receive a discount on the export documentation service – one of the many services companies receive through their membership.
The Chamber also has a UKTI international trade team based within its International Trade Hub at its Coventry-based headquarters.
Gurpaal added: “Members of the Chamber receive a discount on the service but any company can access it and can also benefit from the UKTI international trade team’s services.
“It’s vital for the economy that we get more companies exporting and while these figures are excellent news for Coventry and Warwickshire we are, by no means, becoming complacent about the fact that we have to let more businesses know that this service is available to them.
“Exporting is a crucial ingredient in sustained economic growth and the Chamber is determined to increase the number of companies in Coventry and Warwickshire who sell their goods and services abroad.”