Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Building material manufacturers are seeing an increase in exports to off-set the subdued level of construction activity in the domestic market.
That’s according to the Construction Products Association’s latest State of Trade Survey.
Launched today (January16) this shows that 34% of light side and 17% of heavy side manufacturers increased overseas sales during the past year and a further 55% and 71%, respectively, maintained export levels in a competitive global marketplace.
Construction Products Association senior economist, Kelly Forrest said: “Against a difficult domestic backdrop, it is encouraging to see that exports are growing strongly, especially considering that export growth is a fundamental part of the government’s economic strategy.
“Future prospects for the UK industry, however, remain very uncertain, as cuts to public sector capital budgets impact on the ground and weak economic growth constrains the private sector recovery.
“Strong input cost inflation also added to the pressures on manufacturers as price increases in raw materials, energy and fuel all had a significant impact on manufacturing costs.
“Manufacturers of heavy side products, typically used in the early stages of the construction process, reported that conditions were challenging in Q4 but 2011, as a whole, was a better than anticipated year, due largely to publicly-financed work in progress feeding through more slowly than expected and strong growth in export activity. However, the cuts to public sector capital budgets are now having a tangible impact on the industry and demand from the eurozone, our largest trading partner, remains highly uncertain.’
The survey found that:
