Credit Management January February 2022

UK Government publishes report
on digital trade and protectionism
THE Department for International Trade
has published a report, Digital trade
key to unlocking opportunities of the
future, written by the Board of Trade,
outlining the opportunities that digital
trade presents for boosting UK exports,
economic growth and jobs across the
UK. The report encourages the UK to
take further action to tackle digital
protectionism and discrimination on the
global stage.
The report recommends that the
Government focusses its digital trade
policy around five goals: open digital
markets, free and trusted data flows,
consumer and business safeguards, digital
Steel company secures
exports with finance support
A story on GOV.UK details that Paralloy, a
steel company on Teeside, has benefited
from UK Export Finance’s new General
Export Facility.
Paralloy makes patented steel alloy
castings used in high temperature
furnaces and exports 95 percent of what it
makes in the UK to 70 overseas markets.
Its exports had reached record levels
of £50m and the firm required general
working capital to fulfil record demand
for its services. As the story explains, the
Seaweed firm wins Belgian contract
ACCORDING to the Herald of Scotland,
SHORE the Scottish Seaweed Co
recently secured a major export deal to
supply seaweed chips to Belgium. From
November, the company’s Lightly Salted
and Sweet Sriracha flavours have been on
sale in up to 300 Delhaize supermarkets.
Not bad since the UK launch in
2020 of the company’s seaweed chips.
Furthermore, its products have several
industry awards, including a Gold Free
trading systems, and partnerships to
shape global rules, norms, and
standards; concludes accession to
Comprehensive and Progressive
Agreements for Trans-Pacific Partnerships
(CPTPP) and builds a pipeline of modern
digital free trade agreements; pursues
a Digital Economy Agreement with
Singapore; pushes for substantial
progress in ongoing World Trade
Organisation e-commerce negotiations;
and uses its G7 Presidency, and
membership of the G20, Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development,
and WTO, to advocate for an open,
inclusive digital economy.
company secured a £15m funding package
from Santander UK that was supported
by UK Export Finance with an 80 percent
guarantee. The funding will enable
Paralloy to fulfil the most exports in its
90-year history, with shipments to North
America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
The firm has opened two additional sites
and recruited 76 new staff following record
demand for its exports. The firm plans to
hire a further 40 additional staff, including
engineers, welders, and fabricators.
From Food Award and Winner of Best
Snacking Product at the World Food
Innovation Awards as well as a Great Taste
Award.
Keith Paterson, managing director of
SHORE, sees the potential in export: “We
see export as a key part of our strategy,
so we are delighted to announce this
partnership with Delhaize supermarket in
Belgium, something we have been working
on for the last six months.”
UKEF to use 20 percent budget
increase to pursue multi-year growth plan
Spain to get 10bn
euros – and more
SPAIN could become a more appealing
target for exporters now that the
European Commission has given
preliminary approval to the disbursement
of 10bn euros under the EU recovery plan.
The money comes as part of the EU’s
27-nation plan to support the recovery
of the European economy following the
pandemic.
While the 10bn euros is interesting,
a total of 70bn could be headed Spain’s
way, but only if it takes steps towards a
greener, more digital economy.
Venezuela on the turn?
COULD Venezuela be on the road to some
form of recovery? Possibly. The Socialist
party of Venezuelan president, Nicolás
Maduro, won in the local and state
elections recently, albeit from a low turnout
of just 41 percent of eligible citizens voted.
The vote was not seen as open and fair.
That said, the Venezuelan economy
looks like it might have grown by between
five and 10 percent during 2021 – its
first annual growth since 2013. The Wall
Street Journal puts that volte-face down
to the “scrapping of an ossified stateled
economic model in exchange for an
anything-goes version of capitalism”
that Maduro introduced in 2019. As a
result, basic goods no longer have price
controls, imports are tariff-free and
there is “virtually no tax enforcement on
businesses and individuals”.
But despite the improvement, the US
dollar is now reported to be the de facto
national currency and so exporters should
be not only careful with whom they trade
but also, in which currency they get paid.
CURRENCY UK
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Currency UK is authorised and regulated
by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
HIGH LOW TREND
UK Export Finance (UKEF) has
commented on what it seeks to achieve
with the 20 percent funding increase
announced in the Autumn Budget 2021.
The increase, which will be funded by
the premium income UKEF generates
for the taxpayer will be used to pursue
UKEF’s current multi-year growth, enable
it to implement its net zero commitment
and increase support for green projects,
expand its network of International
Export Finance Executives overseas and
improve risk management, underwriting
and cyber security capacity.
UKEF has said that “in 2020-21, the
department provided the highest level
of support for UK businesses in 30 years.
£12.3 billion went to 549 UK businesses,
which is estimated to have supported up
to 107,000 UK jobs.”
GBP/EUR 1.20050 1.17878 Up
GBP/USD 1.37097 1.33518 Up
GBP/CHF 1.25923 1.22764 Up
GBP/AUD 1.89900 1.85127 Up
GBP/CAD 1.72919 1.70080 Down
GBP/JPY 157.265 152.369 Up
This data was taken on 24th January and refers to the
month previous to/leading up to 23rd January 2022.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / January & February 2022 / PAGE 31