Leaving the single market has complicated logistics – and left many firms diversifying their export markets. #brexit
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00:00There has been a huge change in the landscape of how to run a small business.
00:04Creative Nature is a food company preparing and selling gluten and dairy-free snacks,
00:10safe for people with allergies or diet restrictions.
00:13We used to import a lot prior to Brexit.
00:17However, because the supply chain is quite volatile,
00:21it's quite expensive and you have to buy so much at a time,
00:25we decided to use a lot of UK suppliers and importers directly.
00:29Everything is produced in a factory in the north of England,
00:32but all the management and delivery orders are done from its base in London.
00:36We want to be growing our exports alongside our UK business.
00:40The costs to entry can be high and I do think that's a barrier and a challenge for businesses,
00:46especially with a team of sort of eight or nine people at the time.
00:51Businesses and people in Britain have had to adapt to trade barriers and new regulations.
00:57Despite that, a UK Parliament report in January says
01:0141% of the UK's total export of services and goods in 2023 was still with the European Union.
01:09New figures are expected in February, but up until last November,
01:13data by the UK's Office for National Statistics revealed
01:17that the value of goods exported from Britain last year rose by US$490 million.
01:24But to countries outside the EU, not member states inside the single market,
01:29British goods inside the European Union fell by US$250 million.
01:35With more than 5.5 million small and medium-sized companies operating in the UK,
01:41it is a significant part of the economy.
01:43Tens of thousands of these companies say they still have aspirations to export.
01:49There will continue to be quite significant trade barriers to UK exporters
01:53going into the EU, particularly for smaller businesses,
01:57and they will just have to work around those.
01:59Some will stop exporting, some will find their ways around the barriers.
02:02The UK will be affected by that.
02:04You'll also see growth, for example, in services trade where there are fewer barriers at play.
02:10I believe even if I was to set up a new business again,
02:13I would want to export from day one because of the opportunity that's out there for our products.
02:19It is challenging times for the UK economy,
02:22but this company hopes, with a product that has a growing presence in the Middle East,
02:26in Australia and the EU, to carry on exporting.
02:30Yolanda Mabdavid, CGTN, London.