Exports are key to region's economic health

Coventry and Warwickshire is responsible for the highest value of exports in the country, outside London, business leaders have been told.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce held its latest Business Outlook event with Warwickshire County Council to assess how the region is faring and the prospects for growth over the next quarter and into 2018.

The event, held at Kenilworth’s Holiday Inn, was one of the largest economic briefings in the region, attracting more than 100 people from business based across Coventry and Warwickshire.

The Chamber, alongside WCC, presented analysis on the Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) for Quarter 2 of 2017 and also heard from David Bharier, business insight manager from the British Chambers of Commerce.

Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce’s QES is now contributed to by more than 500 business people – making it one of the most comprehensive reports of its kind across the country.

Dave Ayton-Hill, Economy & Skills Manager at WCC, said the data is drawn from a good split of manufacturing and service sector organisations.

“This quarter we have seen a record number of respondents to the QES," Mr Ayton-Hill said. "It is firmly established as one of the leading surveys feeding into the national British Chambers of Commerce QES which influences key decision-making at the highest level.

“The Coventry & Warwickshire economy remains strong and buoyant, and high levels of business confidence bodes well for the future months. Business confidence in the region is extremely high, with 73 per cent of manufacturers and 63 per cent of service sector respondents believing their turnover will increase in the next three months.

“Key to our economic performance is our strength in exporting. Coventry and Warwickshire has the largest value of goods exported overseas – £17.8bn last year – of all Local Enterprise Partnership areas in the country, aside from London, with two-thirds of this to non-EU countries.

“The area is performing well in comparison to other areas of the country against a backdrop of continued uncertainty, which is extremely positive to report for the region.”

Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “With more than 500 responses to this QES, it is a very accurate barometer of our regional economy.

“We are delighted our Business Outlook events are also growing tremendously, and our latest event was one of the largest economic outlook events held in the area.

“The feeling within the room was that while we are still very much operating in uncertain times, particularly in regards to Brexit, the majority of businesses in the region are taking a business as usual approach, and this is reflected in the results of the QES.”

The full results can be downloaded here: https://www.cw-chamber.co.uk/media/3233/qes-q2-2017-survey-results.pdf