Upbeat report says Northwest manufacturers are well placed to win through
Despite the harsh economic climate, the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) NW quarterly manufacturing review paints an optimistic picture.
The quarterly regional manufacturing review for the North West prepared by respected economist Brian Eaton for the Manufacturing Advisory Service NW supports the observation by Paul Fewtrell, Head of MAS-NW, that “manufacturing in the region continues to produce results that would be credible even in good times”.
The North West continues to hold on to its position as sixth largest manufacturer in the world and the largest in the UK. It makes the third largest contribution to the UK economy and the highest contribution to the UK’s manufacturing industry in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA).
According to Ernst and Young’s European Attractiveness Survey, the second most popular target, after London, for direct foreign investment, with 20 investments in Greater Manchester, ten in Merseyside, five in Cheshire, two in Lancashire and one in Cumbria during the past year.
The region has successfully kept up the exporting pressure, and was third overall amongst the UK’s 12 regions with a value of £5.5 billion, only 5.6% down on the previous year’s quarter. Markets abroad, including Europe, are demonstrating slow growth, a factor that has weakened the advantage for Sterling against the Dollar and Euro, but the region continues to win export orders. And while imports to the UK as a whole rose by 8.9% (82.3 billion), those into the Northwest fell by 3.3% (to £5.7 billion) compared to the same quarter last year. The region also leads the way in terms of nuclear power, with over half of the country’s civil nuclear employment located in the North West, contributing some £2 billion to the UK economy.
The latest 12-month figures on employment in manufacturing show that the Northwest had the smallest percentage of manufacturing job losses in the UK between December 2008 and December 2009. There are over 347,000 manufacturing jobs – 13.8% of the UK’s non-seasonally adjusted – in the Northwest.
Commenting on the report, Paul Fewtrell, Head of MAS-NW said:
“One of the distinct advantages in the Northwest is the sheer diversity of the range of manufacturers. We have a number of international-reaching manufacturing businesses headquartered here who fly the flag for the region both nationally and internationally.
“And we continue to see expansion in the Northwest where a half of the internal investment in the region is in the manufacturing sector. As examples, Jaguar Land Rover is expanding its operation at Halewood to produce a low-carbon vehicle, the paper company Saica Pack UK has expanded its factory at Wigan and frozen pizza producer Freiberger, part of Stateside, have opened a new plant at Westhoughton.
“I hope that the funded help available from MAS and the associated support from the Manufacturing Institute continues to help keep manufacturing in the region vibrant and competing at a world-class level, something we’ll be discussing in more detail at our annual conference, to which, I might add, any small or medium manufacturing business in the region is welcome to attend in the Reebok Stadium, Bolton on the 8th July.”
The report may be accessed here: http://www.mas-nw.co.uk/news/Manufacturing_NW_Quarterly_period_to_end_May_2010.pdf/view
