Call for government to include import taxes in payments to be deferred The Institute of Export & International Trade is calling on the government to include import taxes in its COVID-19 measure of deferring the VAT, duty and excise payments that businesses are required to make. In his package of help for business, unveiled this month, Chancellor Rushi Sunak said the government would defer the next quarter of VAT payments
2019 was a record-breaking year for UK exports, according to new figures published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The UK has now experienced 45 consecutive months of annual export growth on a rolling annual basis. Companies in the UK exported £689 billion worth of goods and services across the globe – up by 5.0% on 2018. Goods exports to non-EU countries grew by 13.6% year on year.
All political parties should pledge to support the logistics sector on its journey to complete zero emission, according to FTA, the voice of the UK logistics sector. Ahead of December’s General Election, the business organisation has launched its own election manifesto – Logistics for Britain – which details ten policy asks of the future government, including the development of alternatively-fuelled vehicles, construction of HS2, and igniting a mode shift from road to maritime and rail. Heidi Skinner, FTA’s Policy & Public Affairs Manager, comments: “FTA and its members are determined to meet the government’s target of becoming
The Quarterly International Trade Outlook for Q3 2019, released by British Chambers of Commerce and DHL today, reveals that indicators for exporting manufacturers in Q3 2019 have undergone large declines, with several key indicators for orders and cashflow now in negative territory. The percentage balance of exporting manufacturers reporting an increase in export orders fell to –1%, down from +9 in the previous quarter. The balance of those reporting increased
Following the upcoming appointment of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister this afternoon, Thomas Brereton, Retail Analyst for GlobalData, a data and analytics company, offers his view: “The most pressing issue for retailers remains clarification on Brexit, both in terms of timing and the nature of the withdrawal. But numerous retailers – particularly the supermarkets – have expressed concerns over an October deadline, anxious about the potential increased pressure to supply
Having a remote workforce is now commonplace thanks to technological advancements and modern work practices. Yet those who work overseas for a period as contractors or employees are facing losses in earnings due to poor foreign exchange (FX) management. A leading FX firm is calling on businesses and individual employees themselves to do more to curb such losses and subsequently overcome what is currently an insufficient overseas salary payment process.
An international logistics expert has warned that even a permanent post-Brexit customs union with the EU would not alone mean frictionless trade with the bloc for British businesses. Adam Johnson, director of Leeds-based Tudor International Freight, was commenting on what is believed to be the central trade-related demand of Labour party leaders in their current talks with the government aimed at breaking the parliamentary Brexit impasse. The deadlock follows
Brexit uncertainty has taken its toll on the industry in both the UK and Eurozone. In stark contrast to the strong results that we saw at the end of 2018, UK manufacturing fell to a three-month low in January 2019, according to the first IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index of the year. However, the figure of 52.8 remains above the all-important growth benchmark of 50.0. A significant number
According to FTA, the industry body which speaks for the logistics sector, if British business is to make a success of Brexit its supply chain needs to have access to European workers in the short to medium term.As the latest independent industry report into skills shortages in the logistics industry has recently been published, Sally Gilson of FTA called on government to reassess its immigration system to ensure it is
Budapest Airport (BUD) is celebrating a new all-time-high record after processing a total of 13,313 tonnes of airfreight at the Hungarian hub last month, its largest figure ever for the month of October.The figure, which represents both trucked and flown freight, is a 22.9 per cent increase when compared to the same period in 2017, and is only the latest development after several years of strong double-digit growth at BUD.The