Canada has many cultural, historic, and linguistic links with the UK, and it is the UK’s 16th largest export market for goods.
The UK is Canada’s sixth largest source of goods imports and second largest services trading partner, and the latest export figures show UK goods and service exports to Canada were worth £7.5 billion in 2013.
Ever since the 51.9% voted for the UK to leave the EU back in June last year, there’s been a lot of conjecture on what the split will mean for trade – many of those who voted leave are sure the nation is in a stronger position now it can arrange its own trade deals with countries outside of the EU, such as India, New Zealand and Australia.
On the other hand, those in the remain camp find it difficult to see the logic in sorting expensive trade deals with countries halfway around the world when there’s so many willing customers right on our doorstep.
And while there are reasonable arguments from both camps, it’s worth looking at who are currently the UK’s main trading partners…
It seems Bulgaria is a good place to do business – A T Kearny, the global management consultant firm, ranks ninth in the world and number one in Europe as an outsourcing destination, the World Bank put it a 38 for ease of doing business, while Bloomberg places it as the sixth best country for doing business.
If your looking to extend your operation across Europe, Bulgaria could be the ideal destination, so here’s all you need to know about exporting to Bulgaria.
Brazil is the biggest economy in Latin America, with larger states such as São Paulo having a bigger economy than neighboring nationArgentina. Brazil is also the world’s seventh biggest economy with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 2.3 trillion.
The UK and Brazil have a burgeoning trading relationship in place – UK goods exports to Brazil more than doubled in the decade between 2002 and 2012, and services exports increased by 59% in the five years between 2009 and 2014. And even though overall imports to Brazil dropped by 14.3% in 2015, the number of UK goods exported to the country only fell by 5%.
If you’re thinking of exporting to Brazil, the top UK exports include:
If Brazil looks like a good opportunity for your business, here’s all you need to know about exporting there…
Napoleon Bonaparte once famously described the UK as a ‘nation of shopkeepers’, and, while that description might not quite hold up some 200 years later, it’s certainly true that the UK is a nation of small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
And the success of each SME is essential to the prosperity of the UK economy, including yours.
It’s not an overall success story though, and the UK may actually have too many small businesses, here’s why…
Located at the heart of the Balkan peninsula in south east Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a middle income country with a small population of just under 4 million. The country split from Yugoslavia in 1992, but the war in the region didn’t end until three years later with the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
2015 saw UK exports to Bosnia and Herzegovina reach the £59 million mark, up almost two-thirds (63%) on 2014, and the top UK exports are:
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s application to join the EU is still under review, even so, there are several benefits for UK businesses exporting there, including:
So if the Balkan nation looks like a good business opportunity, here’s everything you need to know about exporting to Bosnia and Herzegovina…
Cloud computing is a technology that enables companies to manage data and files online, rather than on a computer’s hard drive, and has been a driving force behind the growth of flexible working across the UK.
And 2017 is expected to be the year when we reach the tipping point where flexible working becomes more common than working from an office, according to a report from Lancaster University’s Work Foundation.
So what is the future of flexible working? And how will cloud computing feature in this brave new world?
Belgium is an affluent and multicultural nation with an open market that offers opportunities to businesses in most sectors. There are over 1,000 public and private international organisations with headquarters in Belgium, including some big-name UK businesses such as BP, BT and Shell.
Belgium is the UK’s eighth largest export market – worth £12.5 billion in 2014 – and the top exports to Belgium include:
The Belgian economy is growing at a rate of about 1% each year, and the country’as top priority sectors for economic development include:
If you think this looks like a good opportunity for your business, here’s all you need to know about exporting to Belgium…
If you work in an office you’re not much of a man, or at least your career isn’t very manly.
Even if you’ve no less than five days’ worth of stubble on your face at all times, bath in Acqua Di Parma, and swill your mouth with single malt every morning, office work just isn’t man’s work..
That is unless you happen to work as an intelligence analyst, in which case you’ll be considered quite manly, but even then you’ll be nowhere near as manly as a marine engineer, which is the most manly job there is. Apparently.
Confused? Read on…
Bahrain is one of the most important economic partners and bases for UK companies in the Gulf and the two nations have always had a very strong bilateral commercial relationship.
It can be notoriously difficult to do business in certain areas of the Middle East but Bahrain is relatively relaxed, having the freest economy in the area and the most liberalised in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Bahrain is one of the UK’s largest export markets in the GCC and the UK exported £295.5 million in goods to Bahrain in 2014, up 9% on 2013. The total value of bilateral trade in 2014 was also up from 2013, it rose by 2% to £451.4 million.
Around 100 UK companies have set up base in Bahrain as the country is a major trading hub and financial centre in the region, with one of the most open economies and a liberal tax regime.