UK exports of metalworking machine tools in the first quarter of 2001 were worth £125.5million, according to the Machine Tool Technologies Association. This represents an increase of 14.5 per cent over the value for the same period a year earlier. On the same basis, imports into the UK rose by 6.1 per cent to £137.1million. This leaves a trade deficit of £11.6million, compared to a 19.7million deficit in quarter one 2000.
Dispatches to the EU amounted to £63.9million (51 per cent of the total) an increase of 7 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2000; arrivals from EU countries rose by three per cent on the same comparison, to stand at £46.5million (34 per cent of total imports). This gives the UK machine tool industry a surplus on trade with the other countries of the EU of £17.3million.
One surprising piece of data, in the light of a sharp downturn in the US machine tool market, is a 66 per cent increase in exports to the US, to £33.8million. exports of CNC machine tools in the first quarter of this year increased by 19 per cent on the same period in 2000, while imports of CNC machine tools on the same comparison fell by 2.2 per cent.