Rebalancing – the detail

The MTA represents suppliers and manufacturers of manufacturing technology – machine tools, cutting tools, workholding and software. The meeting focused on how to boost export trade and Gregg McClymont MP (Labour) opened by asking what the witnesses thought were the issues with UKTI's support for exporters – (UK Trade & Invest, www.ukti.gov.uk). Graham Hayes, president of EAMA (of which MTA is a member), said that support and its image were poor. But how could this be so, if the mechanical engineering sector was doing as well in exporting? asked the MP. Well, clearly exporters' success is not solely dependent on UKTI, as the MTA's Mr Dewhurst explained. He ran through the history of the MTA's involvement in Russia; how the association had opened an office in Yekaterinburg, because of the UK's low profile in that market; how the UKTI post had failed to make the political connections with the regional government that the MTA had made. This, he suggested, was an illustration of the UK's failure to stress its continued manufacturing strength. What's to be done? Mr McClymont asked. Answer: ensure officials in overseas posts were more commercially minded, and better informed and educated about business. On trade shows, the MPs suggested these were not as important as made out, but, apparently, were open-mouthed when told of the scale of the biennial EMO manufacturing technology shows. They heard how SMEs can get lost at such shows, but that UK pavilion efforts were a shadow of those of other countries, so much so that large firms shunned them, preferring to go it alone and thus remove any support by association from smaller firms. In addition, the sum total of official British involvement in overseas manufacturing technology shows recently had been a flying visit by Lord Digby Jones to EMO in 2007. On finance for export, Mr Dewhurst noted that the ECGD underwrote £2.2 billion worth of business in the last year, two billion of which was for the aerospace sector. The mechanical engineering sector exported £30 billion/year, while the ECGD deals, excluding aerospace, amounted to 0.6% of that figure. But one of the most important issues, it was highlighted, is the ECGD rule that insisted on insuring the whole turnover of a business, as opposed to just particular order. This makes it uncompetitive for smaller businesses. It is unlikely that these particular items have not been highlighted before by industry. But if the message is the same, let's hope that the response isn't. First published in Machinery, February 2011