It featured international, national and regional figures, including Richard Burn, trade commissioner to Europe and Marian Sudbury, UK regions director at the DiT.
The conference also heard from Northern Powerhouse trade envoys in Brazil and the USA; former Lancashire MEP and trade negotiator Sajjad Karim; and a host of county exporters, including Queens Award winners, and their advisers.
Speakers also highlighted the ongoing challenges facing exporters following the UK’s departure from the EU and work taking place to overcome them.
Miranda Barker, chief executive of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said UK businesses now faced an “unfair playing field” with the EU that was set to become even more difficult for them and called for action at a national level to resolve the issues.
John Lucy, of the Road Haulage Association, also spoke of the challenges his sector had faced since the end of the transition period and the impact of increased bureaucracy.
However, he revealed the port of Heysham had been a winner in the process, with its Irish Sea traffic up by more than 27 per cent.
Marian Sudbury told the conference that since leaving the EU the UK had negotiated more than 60 different trade agreements and was working on a number of other deals.
Closer to home, she said that extra resources had been pumped into increasing support for businesses in the North of England looking to exploit overseas trade opportunities.
Paul Walters, international trade advisor at the North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said that “fear of the unknown” was the major factor deterring more businesses from looking at international trade opportunities.
IT’S A BIG WORLD SO START SMALL
Tony Grimshaw’s advice to would-be Lancashire exporters is start small. That’s how Padiham-headquartered What More UK began its international journey.
The business, which manufacturers plastic housewares, bakeware and cookware and employs 354 people in Lancashire, today exports its products across the globe.
Director Tony Grimshaw told the conference the company began trading internationally after its investment in new technology led to surplus production capacity.
He said: “We sat down with the DiT, East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, anybody who could give us some help.”
What More attended its first international exhibition in Frankfurt in 2003. It was, Tony said, “a hard slog” with just 10 people visiting its stand.
He said: “I’m proud those 10 visitors became customers and even more proud to say they still are. You have to start somewhere and that is where we started.”
The business set up internal courses with DiT and chamber support that had everyone concentrating on exports. Tony said: “The mindset changed.”
He added: “The demands of the export customer are quite specific. That discipline helped us with everything else we were doing, our UK business as well.
“If you want to start in a small way, just put an office junior on the internet looking at potential customers for your product.”
Adlington-based Suzy Wong is another successful Lancashire exporter, selling its custom-made boxing shorts, fightwear and training kit across the globe.
Creative director Melissa Anglesea told the conference the British “stamp” was seen as a badge of quality.
She said: “People know we are still great at manufacturing. People value a British made product and a Lancashire made product. They know people are really skilled that are making the product here. Exporting has really opened our eyes to what is possible.”
Suzy Wong
LANCASHIREBUSINESSVIEW.CO.UK
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INTERNATIONAL TRADE
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