Smaller Exporters Struggling To Make Headway

• The proportion of businesses reporting increased export orders sits at 25% in Q1 2026, compared with 31% in Q2 2018    
• There is a big split relating to the size of the business, with 23% of SMEs reporting increased orders, compared to 38% of larger firms. 
• Services exporters also appear to be struggling with 23% reporting increased orders, against 29% for manufacturers. 

New research by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Insights Unit, involving over 2,000  exporters, shows they were continuing to toil ahead of the disruption caused by the Iran War.    

The survey, carried out between Monday 9 February and Monday 9 March, found that overall, 25% of exporters reported an increase in export orders, while 23% reported a fall, and 52% reported no change.    

This was an improvement on Q4 of 2025, when 21% reported increased orders, 28% a drop and 50% no change. 

However, micro-exporters with fewer than 10 employees are faring worse – as only 18% reported increased export orders in Q1 (17% in Q4), 26% reported a fall, and 56% reported no change.      

In contrast, 38% of large exporters, with more than 250 staff, saw a boost in overseas orders (39% in Q4), 12% reported a decrease, and 50% said they’d seen no change.      

The picture is substantially different to the performance before Brexit, Covid, the war in Ukraine, US tariffs and other geopolitical disruption. In Q2 2018, 31% of all firms saw increased orders and 14% a decrease.     

William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the BCC, said:      

“These findings make for dispiriting reading, having mainly been collected before the impact of the Middle East conflict began to be felt.     

“It is also of concern that our services firms, which have been the source of most of our export growth in recent years, appear to be facing growing headwinds as well.     

“But this is the exact time when we must double down on our efforts to grow exports and involve more UK businesses in this fight. To take an isolationist approach and retreat from the principles of fair and open trade would be a grave mistake.    

“There are a number of things the government could do to support smaller businesses to trade overseas. First and foremost, it must boost export support and move more trade processes online to simplify the bureaucracy. 

“Securing concrete progress on the EU reset and other trade and sectoral deals should also be a priority. That means faster progress on EU-UK deals on food and drink exports, agreeing a youth experience programme, electricity market integration, and linking EU and UK schemes on greenhouse gas emissions.” 

HHCC International Trade Support

The Hull and Humber Chamber is here to support our exporting business members through our International Trade Centre and International Chamber Network. Click here for further information about the export support available through your local chamber of commerce.