Chamber News

Stronger-than-expected growth in global trade is being driven by rising demand for imports in Asia and North America, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has revealed.

According to the latest estimates from WTO economists, world merchandise trade volume will grow by 3.6% in 2017 rather than by the 2.4% previously forecast. The WTO also sees a rise of 2.8% in global gross domestic product (GDP).

Those forecasts are more positive than earlier ones, thanks to a sharp increase in global trade growth in the first half of the year. Growth of 3.6% would represent a substantial improvement on the lacklustre 1.3% increase in 2016, the WTO points out.

For 2018, trade growth should moderate to 3.2% (within a range from 1.4% to 4.4%) as global GDP growth remains stable at 2.8%.

The WTO warns, however, that the anticipated recovery could be undermined by a number of risks, including trade policy measures (with the danger that protectionist rhetoric translates into trade-restrictive actions), monetary tightening, geopolitical tensions and financially costly natural disasters.

“The improved outlook for trade is welcome news, but substantial risks that threaten the world economy remain in place and could easily undermine any trade recovery,” WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo responded.

During the second quarter (Q2) of 2017, GDP growth accelerated in most major economies, notably China which saw growth from 1.3% in the first quarter (Q1) to 1.7% in Q2.

Chinese demand for imports in the first half of 2017 was driven by growth in industry (up 6.4% in real terms for the year to date) and in services (up 7.7% over the same period).

Growth was also recorded in the USA (up from 1.2% annualised in Q1 to 3.0% in Q3) and in the eurozone (up from 2.2% in Q1 to 2.6% in Q2).

On 04 October, Heather Garrod stepped down as President of West Norfolk Chamber Council and passed the baton to Michael Baldwin, the General Manager of the Bank House Hotel.

Ms Garrod served two terms of office as President and diligently represented the West Norfolk Chamber Council for eight years.  She is a well-known figure in local the business community and she has been the Chamber representative on the West Norfolk Tourism Forum Committee and the Hanseatic League.  She has tirelessly campaigned to improve the business environment in West Norfolk and and helped support many local business initiatives.

She will be succeeded by Michael Baldwin, the General Manager of the Bank House Hotel, situated on the King’s Lynn Quay.  He leads at team of 30 staff and has worked in the catering and hospitality industry for over 20 years.

Norfolk Chamber is fully supporting the efforts being made to retain both Britvic and Colman’s in Norwich.  The potential loss of a further 113 manufacturing jobs at Colman’s, on top of the 240 Britvic jobs could impact heavily on the local economy.  Both businesses have a long history in Norwich and Colman’s is one of the last original iconic Norfolk brands remaining in Norfolk.  

Colman’s ties with the Norfolk Chamber is equally historic, with Mr J.J. Colman being the first President of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce back in 1896. 

Chris Sargisson, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said:

“Norfolk Chamber will work in conjunction with our partners, to strongly support the calls for both Colman’s and Britvic to remain in Norwich.  

In addition, we will be working in partnership with the local authorities, New Anglia LEP and other business organisations to raise the overall business profile of Norwich and Norfolk, as a great place to live, learn, and work – to attract the manufacturing jobs of the future and ensure the next great iconic brands, who will be synonymous of Norfolk thrive and remain in local.”

To add your support to the calls for Britvic and Colman’s to remain in Norwich sign the online petition

Norfolk’s Chamber’s Young Chamber initiative aims to bridge the gap between business and young people.  As part of this work we are looking to support City College Norwich students to engage with their local business community.

The third year Business Administration Degree students at CCN are currently working on a module call ‘Creative Enterprise’.  Their degree will be validated by the University of East Anglia and the ‘Creative Enterprise’ module is all about finding creative solutions to business problems.  The students are looking for Norfolk businesses to work with them and set them real-life, real-time challenges. 

Commenting on the call to find businesses to work with the students, Ernst Schute, Lecturer at the School of HE at City College Norwich said: “We would welcome the input from the Norfolk business community and it would be much more interesting for the students to work in a real life context.  Whether your problem is small or large the students want to hear from you.”

To find out how your business can get involved, please contact: Nova Fairbank on 01603 729 713 or email: nova.fairbank@norfolkchamber.co.uk.

Ten nights and nine days of intensive 24-hour working begins on the A1151 Wroxham Road tomorrow evening (8pm Fri 6 Oct) as Norwich Northern Distributor Road teams set out to make the most of the longest A-road closure during construction of the A1270 NDR dual carriageway.

Wroxham Road will be closed to all traffic, including cyclists and pedestrians, from 8pm on Friday 6 October until 6am on Monday 16 October. Traffic will (from the Norwich direction) be diverted along Norwich Ring Road on to Salhouse Road, with separate light vehicle and HGV diversions* from Rackheath (see plan). The diversion routes are expected to become very congested, especially during peak hours, and traffic will also increase significantly on other routes in the area, including minor lanes.

The A1151 closure is to allow construction of a drainage culvert through Wroxham Road, and will also be used to complete as much work as possible on the NDR/Wroxham Road roundabout. Norfolk County Council and Balfour Beatty apologise for the unavoidable disruption and inconvenience that this A-road closure will cause.

Plumstead Road pavement work resumes

Work on extending the north-side pavement on Plumstead Road at Thorpe End will resume under temporary traffic lights on Monday 9 October. The scheme, which includes a mini-roundabout and drainage improvements at the junction with Broadland Drive, will take four weeks to complete.

A140 Cromer Road

After a short break following the re-routing of A140 Cromer Road traffic over the new bridge, temporary traffic lights will return on the A140 as needed. This is to allow as much work as possible to be carried out before a series of overnight closures (8pm to 6am) of the A140 to tie-in the existing road to the new junction, beginning on Monday 30 October. The number of nights needed will depend upon progress.

Marriott’s Way bridge in use

Marriott’s Way users are being allowed to cross the bridge during the final stages of construction and surfacing. However, further work is being carried out and diversion via the cycleway to Fir Covert Road may be necessary at times.

 * Wroxham Road diversions: Light traffic will (from Norwich direction) be diverted via Norwich Ring Road, Salhouse Road and Green Lane West. HGVs – including those serving Rackheath Industrial Estate – must continue on Salhouse Road to Salhouse and use to the B1140 to re-join the A1151 at Wroxham. The diversions will operate in reverse for traffic heading towards Norwich.

More than 41 million fake and counterfeit products were stopped at EU borders last year.

According to a new report from the European Commission, potentially dangerous products such as medicines, toys and household electrical goods accounted for over a third of all goods intercepted.

Compared to 2015, there was a 2% increase in the number of articles intercepted last year, with the goods seized estimated to have had a total value of some €670 million.

Cigarettes accounted for almost a quarter (24%) of the articles detained by customs authorities. Toys were the second largest group (17%), followed by foodstuffs (13%) and packaging material (12%).

The main source of fake goods was China, which accounted for 80% of those seized.

Vietnam and Pakistan were cited by the Commission as the originating countries for large amounts of cigarettes, with Singapore the main source of counterfeit alcoholic beverages.

Fake clothing accessories tended to originate in Iran, while Hong Kong topped the table for counterfeit mobile phones and most counterfeit medicines came from India.

These fake goods pose a real threat to health and safety of EU consumers and also undermine legal businesses and state revenues, the European Commissioner responsible for Customs and Taxation, Pierre Moscovici, explained.

Co-operation between law enforcement authorities should be strengthened and risk management systems upgraded to protect the EU from goods infringing on intellectual property rights, he added.

The Commission confirmed that, in more than 90% of cases where goods were seized, they were either destroyed or legal proceedings were initiated to determine an infringement of EU law or as part of criminal procedures.

The Report on EU Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights: Results at the EU Border 2016 can be found here.

Ideas for persuading micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to do business across borders are being sought by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

The “Small Business Champions” initiative seeks proposals from private sector businesses and representative bodies around the world for practical ideas designed to encourage MSMEs to engage in international trade.

The aim is to:

• raise awareness of the barriers that these firms face in doing business across borders
• highlight the experiences and success stories of those that are already trading
• facilitate access to critical information
• raise skills among the others to enable them to diversify export markets.

Proposals could be for such things as awareness-raising campaigns, competitions, capacity building, training or mentoring programmes.

Businesses putting forward successful proposals will be recognised as ICC-WTO Small Business Champions. No financial reward is being offered, but the ICC and the WTO will help support and promote successful proposals in an appropriate manner.

Announcing the initiative, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said: “The trading system is there for everyone, but MSMEs can often find it harder to reach overseas markets. The smaller the business, the bigger the barriers can seem. Spreading the benefits of trade further and wider means helping these companies to take part, particularly as MSMEs are such important job creators.”

For the ICC, Secretary General John Danilovich said that the scheme “will seek to harness the knowledge, creativity and networks of the global business community to inspire and support MSME growth”.

Proposals should be no longer than three pages and should detail the concept, aims, timelines and other relevant information. They should be sent in Microsoft Word or in PDF format, by 31 December 2017, to MSMEsubmissions@iccwbo.org.

In 2016-2017, UK Export Finance (UKEF) increased the funding it provides to exporters by 60% compared to the previous year.

According to its latest annual report and accounts, the UK’s Export Credits Guarantee Department (which operates under the name UKEF) provided £3 billion in export finance.

UKEF supported more than £585 million of new UK export contracts through its trade finance and insurance products, taking the total amount provided since the products were introduced in 2011 to over £3.6 billion.

The total number of companies receiving direct support from UKEF in 2016-2017 was 221. Of those, 21% were classified as large firms and 79% as SMEs.

Almost two-thirds (61%) of those supported were manufacturing companies, with 11% being wholesale and retail. Construction firms accounted for 7% of those receiving UKEF support, as did businesses engaged in professional, scientific and technical activities.

The most popular UKEF products were bonds and export working capital support (65%) followed by insurance (27%).

Commenting on the figures, Greg Hands, Minister for International Trade, said that the Government is putting export finance at the heart of trade promotion and that UKEF’s results “show that the UK’s world-leading exporters are supported by a world-leading export credit agency as they look to succeed in a global marketplace”.

Looking ahead, UKEF has set out how it intends to increase support for exporters in its Business Plan for 2017-2020.

This identifies a number of measures aimed at helping more UK exporters and their suppliers benefit from UKEF support – including a recently-announced partnership with banks and plans to use the availability of UKEF financing to help create procurement opportunities for smaller companies in the UK supply chain.

UK Export Finance Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17 can be found here.

Six months after its introduction, businesses remain in the dark about how best to utilise the Apprenticeship Levy, according to a survey released today (Friday) by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), in conjunction with Middlesex University London.

The annual workforce survey of over 1,400 businesses, including those from Norfolk, found that nearly a quarter (23%) of levy-paying firms have no understanding of the Apprenticeship Levy or don’t know how their company will respond to it.

Businesses with a pay-bill of less than £3m fall under the levy threshold but can still apply for apprentice funding, yet the findings of the survey show 66% of these companies haven’t taken any direct action to use the funds or don’t know about it.

For over half of levy-paying businesses, it represents an added cost, with 56% not expecting to recover any or only a portion of their payment, compared to 36% who expect to recover all or more of their payment.

The findings reinforce the need for clearer guidance and support for businesses wanting to utilise the Apprenticeship Levy. Firms, both above and below the levy threshold, are uncertain about how to use the funds to find and train the skills they need, undermining the purpose of the system.

Nova Fairbank, Public Affairs Manager for Norfolk Chamber said:

 “Apprenticeships are great way for businesses to develop the skills they need for the future, but they are not the only solution for developing people in the workplace. The current upheaval in the technical education and apprenticeship system will take time for firms to understand and adapt to. 

“The government must ensure that changes in the system do not lead to a slowdown in the overall number of apprentices recruited, or less investment in other forms of workplace training. Low awareness and understanding of the Levy has not been helped by uncertainty faced by training providers tasked with delivering apprentices to business.

“For many businesses who pay the Apprenticeship Levy, it can feel like an additional employment tax, much of which they are unable to recover, and one that is deflecting training budgets away from other important training needs.  Firms need greater flexibility on how they can use their levy monies and a system that is fully operational as quickly as possible, is simple and efficient, and that enables them to access good quality training.

“The BCC survey shows that many firms are still unaware of the Apprenticeship Levy and how it will impact on their business.  With many companies across the country facing critical skills shortages, more information and support is required to ensure businesses continue to invest in training.”

Interest rates could rise in the “relatively near term” says the Governor of the Bank of England

Last week, in the clearest indication yet that there could be a rate rise as early as November, Mark Carney suggested that it was time for the bank to “ease its foot off the accelerator”.

The next opportunity for a change in interest rates is the Bank’s monetary policy committee meeting on 2 November.  The governor also warned against “reckless” household borrowing.

He said that while overall lending to UK consumers had come down markedly since the financial crisis, there was a danger from rapid “frothy” growth in some areas of household borrowing.

“What we’re worried about is a pocket of risk – a risk in consumer debt, credit card debt, debt for cars, personal loans,” said Mr Carney

He said banks had “not been as disciplined as they should be” in their underwriting standards and pricing of this debt.

Pressed on when the Bank was likely to raise interest rates, a move that would make borrowing more expensive, Mr Carney confirmed the latest analysis from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.  “If the economy continues on the track that it’s been on, and all indications are that it is, in the relatively near term we can expect that interest rates will increase,” he said.

To find out what the impact of an interest rate rise would be on Norfolk and the East of England, join the Agent for the South East and East Anglia, Phil Eckersley at a Chamber lunch on Wednesday 18 October.  For more information and to book you place click here.

As the Conservative Party Conference continues today (Monday) in Manchester, the British Chambers of Commerce has called on the governing party to demonstrate competence and coherence – not division and disorganisation – in the interests of the UK’s economic well-being.

The leading business organisation – which represents tens of thousands of UK companies employing nearly six million people – has flagged on-going business concerns over the public disagreements within the Cabinet around the Brexit process, as well as an insufficient focus on supporting the domestic economy, as areas for immediate attention.

BCC Director General Adam Marshall has called on the Prime Minister and her party to shore up business confidence by ensuring that Brexit negotiations deliver a comprehensive transition period and pragmatic trade talks by the end of 2017, and by increasing attention to the many domestic issues that hold back business appetite for investment and risk.

Speaking from Manchester, BCC Director General Adam Marshall said:

“Businesspeople across Britain are growing impatient with division and disorganisation at the heart of the party of government, and have made it very clear that they expect competence and coherence from ministers as we move into a critical period for the economy.

“Public disagreements between Cabinet ministers in recent weeks have only served to undermine business confidence, not just on Brexit negotiations, but also on the many issues where firms need to see clear action from government closer to home. Action to cut the up-front cost of doing business, build key infrastructure, help firms plug increasing skills gaps, and to support investment and risk-taking must be front and centre on the government’s agenda.

“On Brexit, businesses are clear that they want a comprehensive transition period, lasting at least three years, and pragmatic discussions on the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU firmed up by the end of 2017. They will judge the government’s progress on Brexit by this yardstick – not by public speeches or pronouncements – and will take investment and hiring decisions accordingly.”

Norfolk County Council today (Monday 2 October) confirmed that the A1151 Wroxham Road – the busiest route into the heart of the Norfolk Broads – will close at 8pm on Friday, 6 October, and is likely to stay closed until 6am on Monday 16th.

The closure to all traffic – including cyclists and pedestrians – is unavoidable because a wide trench has to be cut across Wroxham Road to allow the installation of a deep drainage culvert as part of construction of Norwich Northern Distributor Road. Thrust-boring under the road without a closure is not possible in this environmentally sensitive location, which includes the nearby fishing lakes at The Springs. There will be no access to the fishing lakes during the closure.

Work will be continuing throughout the ten nights and nine days of the closure. As well as construction of the culvert, the closure will be used to complete as much as possible of the A1151 Wroxham Road roundabout on the NDR.

Diversions

Light traffic will (from Norwich direction) be diverted via Norwich Ring Road, Salhouse Road and Green Lane West. However, the 7.5 tonne weight limit on Green Lane West means that HGVs – including those serving Rackheath Industrial Estate – must continue on Salhouse Road to Salhouse and use to the B1140 to re-join the A1151 at Wroxham. The diversions will operate in reverse for traffic heading towards Norwich.

Legal Order backs up Horsford right turn ban

A right turn ban from Church Street on to the B1149 Holt Road in Horsford today (Monday) became mandatory after a Temporary Traffic Order came into force. When Holt Road south of Horsford closed in August, an advisory right turn ban was introduced to encourage Horsford-bound traffic to loop around the nearby New Drayton Lane roundabout, with the aim of reducing queues on Church Street. This has only been partially successful, so Norfolk County Council has obtained a Legal Order to make the right turn ban mandatory and enforceable by the police.