Nottinghamshire Sock Manufacturer Reacts To 0.5% Economic Growth Since Brexit

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 8 November 2016

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today released a report that suggests Britain has not suffered a Brexit shock. The UK economy grew by 0.5% in three months after EU referendum, down from 0.7% for second quarter. With little evidence of a pronounced effect in the immediate aftermath of the vote, Britain's economy has now grown for 15 quarters in a row, and is 8.2% higher than the pre-economic downturn in early 2008.

However, the service sector, which makes up three quarters of the economy, is the only sector which grew in the last three months – by 0.8% between July and September. Construction declined by 1.4%, agriculture by 0.7%, industrial production by 0.4% and manufacturing by 1%.

Despite this decline, prices paid for raw materials were unchanged over the period, while there is no explicit evidence to suggest that the lower pound has pushed up the prices of everyday consumer goods.

Ben Lowe, Account Manager at UK-based sock brand, SockMine said:

“The ONS report confirms a definite imbalance in the economic sectors, despite the overall growth. In retail, the currency situation at the moment is putting immense pressure on UK importers and retailers, who are having to deal with the around 16-18% drop in the pound to the dollar.

“This increase in the price of imported goods is now making British manufacturing more of an option to consider. Even though many British manufacturers source materials and components from Europe, the increase on these is only affecting part of the price of the goods, rather than the whole article.

“This coupled with recent child labour concerns from overseas factories is starting to alter a British consumer’s perception on what they are buying – so support your local economy by buying British!”