A new report from the MTTA suggests that the UK has trade surplus in CNC machine tools in the first quarter of 2002. UK exports of metalworking machine tools in this quarter were worth £88.6million, 29 per cent lower than in the first quarter of 2001 and 28 per cent lower than in the fourth quarter of 2001; on the same basis, imports into the UK were worth £91million, a decline of 34 per cent on a year ago and 25 per cent lower than in the previous quarter. This leaves a trade deficit of £2.5million, a reduction from the £11.6million deficit in the first quarter of 2001.
Dispatches to the European Union (EU) in the first quarter of 2001 amounted to £40.8million (46 per cent of the total), a decline of 36 per cent compared to the same period a year ago; arrivals from the EU countries were lower by nine per cent on the same comparison, to stand at £42.2million (46 per cent of total imports). This gives the UK machine tool industry a deficit on trade with the other countries of the European Union of £1.4million for the quarter (there was a surplus of £17.3million in the equivalent period of 2001).