Greedy UK exporters are jeopardising our prosperity with exchange rate profiteering

Theresa May with Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, in August. Japan has promised to sign a trade deal with the UK as soon as possible after Brexit – probably because the stupidity of UK exporters means it will be easier to sell Japanese goods here [Image: Kazuhiro Nogi/Reuters].

This is a perfect illustration of everything that’s wrong with British business today.

The fall in sterling, after the EU referendum result in favour of Brexit, created an opportunity for UK exporters. It meant they could sell their products abroad more cheaply.

This would have made our exports more desirable, meaning (hopefully) that more foreign clients would buy them.

But exporters decided to push their prices up instead, making our products less desirable (although extorting more money from clients who were already contracted to buy from them).

Meanwhile, the depreciation in the value of the Pound meant imports became more expensive, squeezing UK citizens’ ability to buy and fuelling the recent rises in inflation.

The result: More poverty for the many, while a few business bosses made a short-term profit that they didn’t even share with the workers who actually created it for them by manufacturing the goods.

Britain’s manufacturing exporters have “hoarded” the gains from last year’s fall in sterling by putting up prices rather than increasing output and sales.

The Office for National Statistics said exporters could have allowed their prices to decline in line with the fall in the pound, making their products more attractive to foreign buyers, but chose to boost their profits instead.

Illustrating the uncertainty following the Brexit vote, which has made exporters nervous about expanding production, analysis by the ONS shows that UK companies increased export prices by 12.7% year on year in the months after the referendum in response to a 16.9% fall in the exchange rate.

Source: UK exporters have ‘hoarded’ gains from fall in sterling, says ONS | Business | The Guardian


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3 Comments

  1. casalealex September 16, 2017 at 1:06 am - Reply

    Making hay while the sun shines….

  2. Roland Laycock September 16, 2017 at 9:19 am - Reply

    Money first Money second Money third and if there is more money to be made bang the drum fly the flag pump out how great the country is and then want you to go to murder around the world to make more money for them

  3. John Thatcher September 18, 2017 at 11:09 am - Reply

    Short-termism has been a problem with UK industry all my adult life and I am almost 70.Although the distorting effects of City of London influence is no doubt part of the problem,
    clearly there is a wider issue with British business culture.

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