Posted on 03/10/2021 2:58:21 PM PST by Cronos
Trade between the UK and Germany slumped in January amid the economic fallout from Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic in the first month after leaving the EU, according to official figures.
Germany’s federal statistics body said imports from the UK fell by more than 56% to €1.6bn (£1.4bn) in January from the same month a year ago, after the end of the Brexit transition period and start of the new trading relationship between Britain and the EU.
In a reflection of disruption at the start of the year from new customs checks and border delays, German exports to the UK also dropped by 29% to €4.3bn. The figures suggest a disproportionate impact on UK-German trade in Januarycompared with other nations, with import and export activity down by just 6% for other EU states by comparison. Exports to other non-EU countries besides Britain fell by 10.3% and imports by 13.9%.
...figures for UK exports to Italy showed a 70% decline from a year ago, and a drop in France of about 20% between December and January
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Good. We should trade less with unfriendly hostile powers and more with ones who are friendly or at least trade in good faith.
Maybe because Germany has highest rate of energy in Europe.... businesses closing all over, Germans freeze and local parks stripped of trees.
Trump’s Tarriffs are still in effect. It’s 1 area Biden has mucked up yet.
That wouldn’t explain why imports to Germany of goods from other countries fell by 6% only, while imports to Germany from the UK fell by 56%
mports from the UK in January were down more than 56% compared with the same month in 2020. This is roughly equivalent to 2.1bn euros (£1.8bn) of lost trade.
Exports to the UK were also down 29%.
So the UK imported less from Germany than it did, but exported WAYYYYY less.
Exports to the rest of the world also fell heavily. BoJo needs to come up with a better plan
As half its sales are wipes out, silk firm joins Exodus to Europe
Sussex medicine firm takes production line abroad to beat Brexit ban
Brixham fishers take Brexit hit
These examples are relatively large-scale. But it's the dozens of niche market very small businesses dealing in specialised products (the one's I'm most familiar with because I use them a lot sell top-end bike parts, climbing or XC skiing equipment, musical scores and instrument components etc) which are going under.
Future development of new markets isn’t much help to the existing British businesses, dependent on EU trade, which are going under. See 7 above.
The normal barriers to international trade are a hinderance for small firms (I know my startup just left that level 2 years ago) and the openness of the EU system helped smaller companies.
This will be a hard shock for years. Let’s hope these businesses land on their feet
Of course at the moment it's impossible to disentangle Brexit effects from Covid effects (very convenient for the Johnson government), or to discount accurately short-term adjustments to new systems. But it's hardly an auspicious start.
Note the quote from the silk fabric exporter I linked to in previous post:
“To turn our backs on the world’s largest trading bloc, which is on our doorstep, in favour of trying to create trade deals with countries that couldn’t be further away, and have much smaller economies, is total stupidity and beyond comprehension.”
I've yet to see a remotely convincing answer to that.
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