With the £ dropping to below $1.30 during yesterday’s Solex garden furniture trade show, Gardenforum asked suppliers how and when prices might be affected.
11 Jul 2016, Paolo Arrigo
We will almost certainly be increasing our RRP in the near future for mail order and may have to consider a price rise on the wholesale side as our goods are now more expensive. We, like many companies in horticulture buy in Euro's and we are paying more for the same goods. If article 50 is envoked then things will get a lot worse than they are now that's for sure. The £ has now overtaken the Argentinian Peso as being the worst performer and we've slipped from 5th to 6th richest in two weeks. I agree that the current omens are not good though seeds sell better in a crisis than a boom that is true, but trading conditions will be worse so ..... Big mess and markets hate uncertainty but alas that is available in bucket loads right now.
8 Jul 2016, John S
The thing that doesn’t get much press is that the UK has only ever had 5 balance of trade surpluses since modern records began in 1801. We have always been import hungry and not just for food & raw materials. The books have invariably balanced as the result of invisible earnings from banking, insurance, Forex & foreign investment. Our recent problem is that the invisible surplus has been falling for several years and our overall external deficit was 7% of GDP in the last quarter. So stay or leave £ was in for a fall! Alan Greenspan said a three weeks ago he thought the worrying thing for Britain was not trade but the impact of Brexit on our financial sector and the willingness of foreigners to lend us money. Absolutely correct where we have the largest external deficit in the OECD. We have already lost our AAA credit rating and are now AA negative. Worse is to come if the UK cannot get both it’s internal & external deficits under control. Judged by recent history the outlook isn’t great and we need a sea change in the balance between income & consumption at both the individual & national level. You cannot live on tick forever whether in or out the EU. This isn’t a time for ignorant ranting from either camp. The UK desperately needs a deliverable plan to solve both our internal & external debt crisis. Will we get one? The current omens aren't good. There is more self denial than reasoned debate.
7 Jul 2016, Peter Sully
The pound has been artificially high. This is a rebalancing that was coming and all the signals have been there for more than a decade. The perceived strength of stirling as a petro based economy has dwindled both with reduced rates of production and lower prices. Our gold reserves were sold at the bottom, we have allowed manufacturing to decline. We have no pride in our country and are as soft as our footballers. If retailers want customers to buy their products they can not rely on low paid Amazon workers to fill their coffers. They can not just remove the festures and reduce the quality in a terminal spiral. Something had to break and Brexit just brought it forward. The balance of payments has to be addressed and some will be hurt in the process. As British manufacturer using UK made steel we are in the best position for yesrs. We did not cut quality we did cut costs and we were already competitive. We are open for business we are hungry. We have capacity and have not forgotten that British spirit when the going gets tough. Our time is here. Be British and BUY BRITISH. Spur your sales support your business with Strength that is SPUR. Spur shelving a strong supportive brand of choice that is rock solid in a crisis.
