Britain: We Were No. 2 Exporter In '08
Britain is claiming second place in the world defense equipment export league for 2008, after issuing figures showing U.K. companies registered overseas sales valued at 4.2 billion pounds ($6.8 billion) for last year.
Richard Paniguian, the head of the government's UK Trade & Investment's Defence and Security Organisation (DSO), said British industry secured a 17 percent share of the global market.
That's slightly down on the average performance over the last five years, which sits at about 21 percent.
And it's far less than the previous year, when a massive sale of Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets to Saudi Arabia spiked 2007 sales to 10 billion pounds, one-third of the world's total defense exports for the year.
The first of the Typhoons destined for the Royal Saudi Air Force is scheduled to be handed over at BAE Systems' Warton assembly plant in northwestern England on June 11, company officials confirmed June 8.
The DSO also had soothing words for defense exporters who worry that the global recession might have a major impact on governments' spending plans.
In a statement, the government organization said that a mid-year assessment has shown that so far, "there is not a significant drop in global export orders compared to the same point in previous years, which helps reinforce the view that the defense and security sectors are weathering the recession better than many other sectors."
Chris Baker, the DSO operations director, said that while 2009 may "not be an easy year, defense is one of the more resilient industry sectors."
He said that although DSO is keeping an eye on markets and the price of oil, the long-term nature of defense programs is keeping the sector "relatively buoyant."
Figures issued by the DSO showed the United States retaining the top spot in 2008. The U.K. finished second, and France closed the export gap with its European rivals to come in third.
DSO officials, though, concede that the comparison with other nations is skewed by the fact the British use sales signed in any one given year to measure performance, while all its major rivals use actual deliveries of equipment to arrive at their figures.
The DSO was formed last year after the Defence Export Sales Organisation was controversially moved by Prime Minister Gordon Brown from Ministry of Defence ownership to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Paniguian said the DSO's performance during its first year had raised the confidence of British companies and export countries about its ability to do the job.
The most important change during the year had been the creation of a security directorate to focus export support for Britain's homeland security industry, he said.
"Within three to five years, I expect the security sector success to match that of defense. We think we can work the same magic in security exports as we do in the defense sector," the DSO chief told reporters.
Information supplied by DSO on export prospects between now and 2013 show the Asia-Pacific region continuing to be the largest potential market for British industry, followed by the Middle East and Europe, with Africa coming in ahead of North America.
Algeria, Libya and South Africa number among the priority markets for DSO this year. The African maritime sector dominates export prospects in the region, totaling more than 4 billion pounds of a potential market for the British of nearly 8 billion pounds through 2013.
Business development director David Steel said Iraq and Mexico are among the top homeland security markets for 2009.
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