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Forex Calendar - highly advanced, famously reliable Forex calendar packed with features and information that helps Forex traders make better decisions.

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Global Competitiveness - class worksheet

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Hornby, the model train manufacturer that also owns Airfix, is to return some manufacturing from China and India to Britain, becoming the latest UK company to repatriate production because of rising wage costs in emerging markets.

The toymaker's announcement was made as figures suggested that Britain's monthly exports to China have hit the £1bn level for the first time, amid signs that UK firms are diversifying away from the crisis-hit eurozone.

Hornby said it would be producing a new Airfix range that does not require glue, to be known as Quickbuild, in Sussex.

Its chairman, Roger Canham, told Sky News: "The economics of sourcing our products from China continue to be affected by the reducing availability of labour and increasing costs. In industrialised areas the minimum wage went up by around 15%, with wage inflation slightly ahead of that. You can no longer just apply the rule that manufacturing can be [done] elsewhere."

Hornby is part of the trend for re- shoring, or returning manufacturing from low-wage Asian economies, which has included UK companies such as Aston Martin, Topshop and Symington's, maker of the Golden Wonder pot noodle.

Revealing a rise in British exports to China , the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there had been a marked change in Britain's trade over the past 18 months and the trade gap had narrowed by £600m in April.

Lee Hopley, chief economist at manufacturers' organisation the EEF, said re-shoring should benefit the indebted UK economy and assist exports. "They would be investing in capacity and modern machinery, potentially increasing their use of local suppliers and supporting the UK's net trade position - all good for rebalancing away from consumption and towards more trade and investment," she said.

The latest data indicated that the trade gap in April fell from £3.2bn to £2.6bn as imports fell more sharply than exports. An £8.2bn deficit in goods was partly offset by a £5.6bn surplus in services. Imports and exports fell in April but the 2.7% decline in the value of imports outstripped the 1.3% drop in exports.

Over the three months to April - considered a better guide to the underlying trend by the ONS - the deficit in goods and services widened by £500m to £9bn.

Since the second half of 2011, exports to the EU have fallen by 5% while those to the rest of the world have risen by 7%. In the quarter ending in April, exports to China were up by 11% and averaged more than £1bn a month.

Even so, the trade gap with China has deteriorated because the £300m increase in exports in the quarter ending in April was accompanied by a £500m increase in imports.

Britain's trading position with the US improved, with a 7% rise in exports and a fall in imports creating a quarterly surplus of £3.7bn.

But the deficit with Germany widened markedly. Exports to the UK's second-biggest market - after the US - fell by £800m to £7.5bn while imports were up £200m to £13.5bn.

"Since the autumn of 2011 the deficit with the non-EU countries averaged around £15bn over a three-month period; the deficit with the rest of the EU was around £11bn. The positions are now reversed," said Hopley.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "Overall, it is clear that UK exports are continuing to struggle despite the marked weakening of the pound earlier this year. Obviously, muted and stuttering global growth is a problem, especially persistent weak domestic demand in the eurozone. Nevertheless, the export performance is still disappointing."
Topics

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Hornby to repatriate Airfix manufacturing from China and India

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Hornby, the model train manufacturer that also owns Airfix, is to return some manufacturing from China and India to Britain, becoming the latest UK company to repatriate production because of rising wage costs in emerging markets.

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Why Reshore?

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The Kent-based toy company Hornby is bringing some production back to Britain in a bid to return to profit.

The firm, based in Margate, lost £4.6m in the last financial year, and £3.4m the year before.

The company, whose brands include Airfix, Scalextric and Corgi, said supply chain issues in China had caused major problems.

It has now moved its UK warehousing and logistics operations to a new site 11 miles (18km) outside Margate.

Production ceased at the firm's Kent base in 2000, with the toys subsequently being manufactured in China.

Richard Ames, the company's new chief executive, set out his plans for getting the firm back on track.

As well as moving its warehousing and logistics operations, the firm has cut ties with a major model railway manufacturer in China.

Mr Ames, a former Ladbrokes and Dixons director, said that on top of the poor financial performance, the problems the firm had experienced jeopardised its relationship with its customers.

"This is an extremely important issue, as these are the true fans of the brands," he said. "It is key that we do not take these fans for granted.

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The Kent-based toy company Hornby is bringing some production back to Britain in a bid to return to profit. The firm, based in Margate, lost £4.6m in the last financial year, and £3.4m the year before.

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Dunlop is the latest big-name brand to leave Birmingham. Why are such brands leaving and what happens to the communities they leave behind?

The tyre manufacturer, whose former factory - the towering Fort Dunlop - dominates part of the city skyline, has said the lease on its Erdington factory will expire on 1 September and, as no other site is available, it will seek to move production abroad.

It is far from being the only brand to vacate Birmingham in recent years.

So which other big names have left the city? And what kind of impact do such closures have on the communities they leave behind?

Hovis

The bread-brand known for its nostalgic boy-on-a-bicycle advertising campaign made a sudden break with tradition in Birmingham in April.

Fifty years of baking history came to an end when Premier Foods, the makers of Hovis, closed its Garretts Green factory with the loss of 610 jobs.

The firm blamed the loss of a £75m contract with the Co-op for its departure from the city.

John Higgins, regional secretary for the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, said many of the workers who had been laid off remained out of work.

"It was a catastrophe for that area," he said. "Most of the people we have kept in touch with are having a terrible time finding work.

"Birmingham used to be noted as one of this country's main industrial centres but, in my view, there are now more companies leaving the city than coming into it.

"A lot of the Hovis workforce we are in touch with were from the lower end of the job scale and now shelf stacking and agency work is all they can hope for."

Rover

In 2005, a century after car production began in the West Midlands, the famous name of Rover disappeared from the city's Longbridge site, resulting in about 6,000 job losses.

MG Rover had gone into administration and the company was broken up, with parts and equipment shipped to China.

Today, Longbridge is the subject of a £1bn redevelopment, with housing, supermarkets and offices replacing the famous factory.

Industrial history campaigner Mark France, whose grandfather, father and uncles once worked at Longbridge, said he still feels shocked at what happened to the plant.

"The closure of Longbridge is still affecting people across Birmingham and North Worcestershire now, even though it's getting on for nearly 10 years since the plant closed," he said.

"It's been a big cultural shock for people. I used to live in Rubery and virtually two thirds of the people I grew up with had parents who worked at Longbridge."

He said some of the skilled workers had taken their expertise abroad but others had faced further redundancies.

"The car industry is picking up again now but many of the workers who learned their skills at Longbridge are coming up to retirement age, so there's a bit of a skills gap," he said.

"This industrial landscape and heritage is often considered as something ugly, that it was good to eradicate. But not everybody feels that way."

HP

If ever there was a taste associated firmly with Birmingham, HP sauce is it.

The famous condiment with its label showing the Houses of Parliament was invented in the Midlands and made in Aston.

However, in 2007, owners Heinz closed the factory and moved production to Holland, with the loss of 125 jobs.

Unions at the time described the move as a "savage decision".

While the loss of each brand can be attributed to a different cause, Professor David Bailey, from Aston Business School, said it was important the city did everything it could to retain such big names.

"Dunlop leaving Birmingham is a big blow for this city region which has been busy repositioning itself on the cutting-edge of automotive technology," he said.

The Dunlop brand, he said, helped project the city as a "motor sport hub". He called for more flexibility for firms looking to invest in the UK.

"Losing several hundred high-quality jobs and 125 years of history is of course bad enough," he added. "But the loss of Dunlop Motorsport is, I feel, damaging for Birmingham's wider hopes of boosting its manufacturing sector."

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Dunlop is the latest big-name brand to leave Birmingham. Why are such brands leaving and what happens to the communities they leave behind? The tyre manufacturer, whose former factory - the towering Fort Dunlop - dominates part of the city skyline, has said the lease on its Erdington factory will expire on 1 September and, as no other site is available, it will seek to move production abroad.

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Staff at Ford's Transit van factory in Southampton have finished their final shifts as it prepares to close its doors later.

More than 500 workers were based at the Swaythling plant, which has produced two million Transits over 40 years.

Production is moving to Turkey, where costs are "significantly lower" than in western Europe, according to Ford.

Ford says its former factory workers have all taken redeployment, voluntary redundancy or early retirement.

A new £12m vehicle distribution centre is being created at Southampton docks, while a vehicle refurbishment plant at the existing site will provide positions for 134 staff.

A further 750 jobs have been affected by the closure of the tool and stamping operation in Dagenham. They have also either accepted redundancy, early retirement or been redeployed within the company.

'Ghost town'

Unions had called the closures a "betrayal" when they were announced last year.

One worker said the backbone of Britain" had gone with the closure of the plant.

Mark Radcliffe, who has worked at the factory for nine years, will continue to work for Ford at its new site in Bridgend, despite being "Southampton born and bred".

He said: "It's a quite eerie feeling, it's all very quiet. It's like a ghost town in there now.

"It's the end of an era, but the future is bright for some and Ford will continue and I'm looking forward to the future with Ford Motor Company."

Alan Merritt, who is taking redundancy, said he believed the plant had been "earmarked for closure" for 15 years.

"I'm out of a job. They say it's voluntary redundancy but I don't see it being voluntary."

However, Rick Ranson, who is moving to the engine plant in Bridgend, South Wales, after 25 years at the Southampton Transit factory, said he believed his colleagues taking redundancy "would be fine".

"It's quite sad really, people have been coming here day in, day out for 25 years, some of them 30 years.

"But, they're a good bunch of guys and I'm not worried for them at all."

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Staff at Ford's Transit van factory in Southampton have finished their final shifts as it prepares to close its doors later. More than 500 workers were based at the Swaythling plant, which has produced two million Transits over 40 years. Production is moving to Turkey, where costs are "significantly lower" than in western Europe, according to Ford.

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Pourquoi?

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Seven hundred and sixty people are to lose their jobs at engineering firm FG Wilson in Northern Ireland.

In a statement Caterpillar, which owns FG Wilson, said the jobs would go across the company's four Northern Ireland sites.

160 job losses had been announced in July and it is feared there could be hundreds more by the end of 2014.

FG Wilson currently employs more than 3,000 people. It is one of NI's biggest manufacturers.

The company has once again thrown industrial relations guidelines back to Victorian times
Jimmy Kelly, Unite

It said the workers would be a combination of salaried and production employees, as well as agency workers.

Demand slowdown

The company makes diesel generator sets.

Caterpillar is blaming a slowdown in the global demand for its generator sets for the job cuts. It is also moving production of approximately 70% of its small generator sets to China, a move to be completed by early 2014.

"Redundancies of employees and release of remaining agency workers will be complete by the end of 2012 across all four Northern Ireland facilities - Larne, Belfast, Springvale and Monkstown.

"Employees impacted by reductions in 2012 will be offered a Voluntary Redundancy (VR) programme, allowing them to leave the company with an enhanced redundancy package.

"Resources will also be provided to the workforce to assist them during this transition period."

It said redundancies resulting from this would be communicated to employees as they become known.

"We realise the announcements we're making affect a company that has a rich history in Northern Ireland," said Robert Kennedy, Northern Ireland operations director.

"However, given our current structure and economic environment, portions of our portfolio are not competitive, and we need to react accordingly for long-term growth and to compete for industry leadership."

The Unite union said its members were "spitting tacks" at the way they had been treated.

"The company has once again thrown industrial relations guidelines back to Victorian times," Unite's Jimmy Kelly said.

"FG Wilson's contemptuous approach with its workforce is to be condemned. The high-calibre job losses are a crushing blow to the East Antrim area and Northern Ireland.

Restructuring

"The company has not given its workers or their union representatives the opportunity to negotiate a plan which would have attempted to keep some of the affected workers employed."

In July, the firm said it was restructuring its small generator set business to improve efficiency and competitiveness.

At the time it was said up to 260 jobs - 100 of them full-time - could be lost by the end of the year.

Analysis

In June, the company said they were restructuring with about 260 job losses.

Some agency staff had already been made redundant during the summer.

Today, staff assumed that they were going to hear the details of those redundancies. What they got was this double whammy.

They had made an assessment and it was going to be 760 jobs instead.

And also there is going to another round of redundancies over the next few years.

They are going to move 70% of one of their departments to China by the end of 2014.

So over the next couple of years we're going to see well over 1,000 redundancies from this company.

Northern Ireland Finance Minister Sammy Wilson, who is also the MP for East Antrim, said he was shocked at the scale of the redundancies at the firm.

He said he would have liked the company to have held more discussions with the Executive to see if there was anything more it could have done.

"They have given an assurance to both Arlene Foster and myself that they will work with us to see whether or not some of the gaps that have been left can be filled by either moving other activities within the Caterpillar Group to Northern Ireland or activities which are currently outsourced, to Northern Ireland," he said.

"We have offered to work with them and Invest NI has offered to work with them to try and restore some of the situation.

"I can understand the devastation.

"When I was informed yesterday by the management of the scale of the redundancies, I was shocked because there was no indication given at any time over the summer, though I had conversations with them over the summer."

Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said she had been informed of the job losses earlier this week.

She described it as "devastating news" for the hundreds of families who would be affected, especially when so many people were already struggling in the current economic climate.

"This is really a day when we're reflecting on the human side of this announcement," she said.

"We want to try and help in any way we can and we have been having discussions in the executive on Thursday about what we are doing and what we can do in the future in relation to the economy."

She said she had received a written guarantee from FG Wilson that it still had a long-term commitment to Northern Ireland.

Employment Minister Stephen Farry described it as a "very difficult situation" for all of those who had been directly affected by the redundancies.

"A lot of the people affected by this are highly-skilled workers and indeed engineering is a major component of the economy in Northern Ireland.

Impact

"It is one that we have identified as a priority growth sector.

"I do sincerely hope that many of those affected by this will find other work in NI in the very near future."

Ulster Unionist Basil McCrea said: "What is really shocking is that this is three times higher than what they talked about in July."

He said Northern Ireland could not afford to keep haemorrhaging high quality jobs.

Alliance Party East Antrim MLA Stewart Dickson said the news would be devastating for workers and their families.

"Following the job cuts announced in July I held a meeting with the management of FG Wilson and was not satisfied with answers given regarding the company's future," he said.

"I left that meeting with an uneasy feeling, which unfortunately has turned into a reality today."

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Seven hundred and sixty people are to lose their jobs at engineering firm FG Wilson in Northern Ireland. In a statement Caterpillar, which owns FG Wilson, said the jobs would go across the company's four Northern Ireland sites. 160 job losses had been announced in July and it is feared there could be hundreds more by the end of 2014.

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Why did this factory offshore

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The last cigarette factory in Britain is to close, with Imperial Tobacco shutting its Nottingham plant, as well as its biggest Gauloises-producing factory in France, at Nantes. The two closures put nearly 1,000 jobs at risk.

Imperial employs 540 people in its factory and distribution centre in Nottingham, where it makes Lambert & Butler, Embassy, Regal, Superkings (known as John Player) and JPS (John Player Special).

The planned closure of Imperial's last factory means there will be no cigarette manufacturing left in Britain. The only other remaining factory in the UK is run by Japan Tobacco International in Northern Ireland.

Unite, Britain's largest union, accused Imperial of "social dumping" and shipping production to low-cost eastern Europe, and vowed to fight the proposed closures together with its sister French unions.

Imperial, which has 46 factories and 35,000 employees worldwide, also plans to shut its Nantes plant, which employs 320 people and makes Gauloises, Gitanes and JPS. A further 120 jobs could be lost by the closure of its Bergerac research and development site, although 80 new roles could also be created.

The company will retain smaller factories in Riom (Auvergne) and Corsica, but the French CGT union told Reuters the Nantes shutdown was incompatible with the forthcoming launch of "Gauloise Generation", a "100% Made in France" brand destined for the French market. The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre smoked the original dark-tobacco Gauloises (Gauloises brunes, which have largely given way to a lighter version, Gauloises blondes), while singer Serge Gainsbourg favoured Gitanes - getting through up to five packs a day. Imperial said the restructuring forms part of plans to save £300m a year from September 2018.

Ten years ago, Imperial employed 1,000 people in Nottingham.

The tobacco company owns the business founded in Nottingham by John Player, who started out by selling pre-packed tobacco from his shop - until then smokers had to buy paper and tobacco separately and roll their own - and bought his first Nottingham factory in 1877, which produced pipe and chewing tobacco, as well as handmade cigarettes.

John Player later became one of the 13 companies that came together as Imperial.

Unite said Imperial had used increased EU regulations as a "cynical ploy" to shut the factories. The recent EU Tobacco Products Directive will stop the sale of packs of 10 cigarettes and "roll your own packs" below 30 grams. As a result of this legislation, Unite was expecting the closure of some manufacture lines and a knock-on effect on a small number of jobs. Unite's national officer, Rhys McCarthy, said: "This is shocking news that will have a devastating impact on not only hundreds of workers and their families, but also on the local community ... It's another nail in the coffin for UK manufacturing and a loss of revenue for the exchequer."

The tobacco company blamed declining industry sales in Europe, due to tough economic conditions, increasing regulation, "excessive" duty increases and a growing black market trade. This has had knock-on effects on Nottingham and Nantes, which now use less than half their manufacturing capacity. Nottingham has capacity to make 36bn cigarettes a year but will only produce 17bn this year while Nantes, with a capacity to manufacture 21bn cigarettes, will only make 9bn. Production from both sites will shift to Germany and Poland. Imperial will still have nearly 1,200 people working in management, sales and marketing at its newly built head office in Bristol.

The company has told employees, works councils and trade unions about its plans. Chief executive Alison Cooper said: "These projects are an essential part of securing the sustainable future of the business. The prospect of job losses is always regrettable and we will be doing all we can to support employees and ensure that they are treated in a fair and responsible manner."

Cigarette sales have been falling by about 2-3% a year in volume terms in western Europe, but this has been offset to some degree by growth in eastern Europe and emerging markets. The global tobacco market is predicted to be stable, thanks to population growth. Imperial has identified Italy, Greece, Russia, Turkey and the US as growth markets, while the UK, with its 10 million smokers and where the company has a higher market share, is classed a "returns market".
Topics

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Nottingham cigarette factory closure threatens more than 500 jobs

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The last cigarette factory in Britain is to close, with Imperial Tobacco shutting its Nottingham plant, as well as its biggest Gauloises-producing factory in France, at Nantes. The two closures put nearly 1,000 jobs at risk.

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Production of chocolate bars at a Cadbury factory near Bristol is set to end within the next few days.

Cadbury was taken over by American food giant Kraft in February, which had pledged to keep the Keynsham site open.

But days after the takeover was completed the firm controversially announced that it would close the plant and move production to Poland.

The decision was criticised by the Takeover Panel which said Kraft did not give accurate information to investors.

Job losses from the shutdown will eventually total 400.

Once production ends a skeleton staff of around 50 people will remain on site to handle maintenance until about March 2011.

'No respect'

Kraft said it would not be officially marking the end of the Somerdale plant, which has been open since 1919.

"There won't be any ceremony to mark the final bar coming off the line," said a statement from the company.

"It would be very hard to define what is the final bar - we make hundreds at a time and if it's near the end of a production run we will not know which bars end up as suitable for distribution."

Keynsham resident Amoree Radford, who led the Save Cadbury's Campaign, said she was disappointed there would be no official ceremony.

"Kraft are not going to mark anything because they have no reason - they've got no respect for the employees or the Cadbury's workers," she said.

The Somerdale plant was originally built by the Fry family. It merged with Cadbury Brothers in 1919.

Products made there included Fry's Chocolate Cream, Dairy Milk, Chocolate Buttons, Creme Eggs and Mini Eggs, Cadbury's Fudge, Chomp and the Crunchie.

Double Decker bars are the last chocolates in production at the site.

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Production of chocolate bars at a Cadbury factory near Bristol is set to end within the next few days. Cadbury was taken over by American food giant Kraft in February, which had pledged to keep the Keynsham site open. But days after the takeover was completed the firm controversially announced that it would close the plant and move production to Poland.

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After 70 sweet years, the last Smarties are due to roll off production lines in York by the end of this year.

Nestle Rowntree will instead manufacture them in a factory in Hamburg. The move is set to cost 645 jobs.

Rowntree introduced Smarties in 1937 and for their first year they were called Chocolate Beans.

Now sales of the coloured sugar-coated chocolates are worth £73million a year and they are children's favourites across Europe.

Promoted with the famous slogan, "Only Smarties have the answer," they will be the latest household name to leave the York plant. Black Magic was lost to the Czech Republic and Dairy Box to Spain earlier this year. But Nestle Rowntree said key brands such as KitKat, Aero and Polo will still be made in York.

"This is part of planned changes to the York factory, announced last September, which include a £20million investment to expand the state-of-the-art facilities and safeguard long-term employment for more than 1,800 employees," a Nestle spokesman said. Bosses defended the impact on its York workforce, saying the changes were needed to preserve the city's confectionery heritage.

Despite protests from Prince Charles and consumers threatening boycotts, many British brands have now left our shores.

Cadbury is to move production of some of its top lines to Poland, shedding 700 UK jobs, to cut costs. In March, Heinz controversially closed its landmark HP Sauce factory in Birmingham and moved to the Netherlands.

There were protests when Burberry announced plans to close its plant in South Wales. Rolls-Royce is another famous brand to have let the British side down by opting to build a new engine testing site not at its home in Derby but near Berlin in Germany.

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Now Smarties leave UK to be made in Germany

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After 70 sweet years, the last Smarties are due to roll off production lines in York by the end of this year. Nestle Rowntree will instead manufacture them in a factory in Hamburg. The move is set to cost 645 jobs. Rowntree introduced Smarties in 1937 and for their first year they were called Chocolate Beans.

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Uk Manufacturing lured overseas

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By BBC News Online's Briony Hale

It should not really have been a surprise that Dyson plans to shift its vacuum cleaner manufacturing from the UK to Malaysia in order to slash costs.

Nor should the latest figures that Britain's manufacturing industry suffered its sharpest decline in a decade last year come as a shock.

But while unions have ranted against Dyson's "betrayal", many British companies have long accepted that moving production abroad is the way ahead.

Hal Cripwell, an ex-managing director of an electrical appliances factory, lost his job when his company decided to import products from China rather than using local factories.

But he is resigned rather than bitter, admitting that it was the only way for the firm to stay in business.

No option

"There was no alternative; if you can't compete your company will gradually lose customers, become unprofitable and be forced to close," he told BBC News Online.

"People accepted that there was no choice.

"People accept it's just the effect of globalisation and the state of the industry."

The factory workers had been making items such as plugs and sockets for about 20 years.

But competition from abroad was on the rise, with foreign companies forcing prices down every year. Prices are more than 50% lower than they were seven years ago.

"If foreign manufacturers are offering your customers cheaper prices, then you are forced to lower your own price, and profits are squeezed lower and lower," said Mr Cripwell.

"If you see a trend of profits going down and down, you either take action or you watch your company fold."

Despite improving productivity, the chance of much lower labour costs in the Far East seemed to be the only way of substantially reducing overheads.

And that opportunity clinched it, resulting in the closure of the Kent factory.

M&S jumps ship

Many multinational firms opted to make the same decision years ago.

A wide range of British industries - including textiles, electronics, toys and cars - have all moved their manufacturing bases outside of the UK, making it increasingly difficult to find merchandise bearing the "made in England" label.

But some remaining bastions of Britishness have been making the move in more recent years.

Marks & Spencer, for example, was one of the last British clothing companies to shift the bulk of its manufacturing abroad.

And Hornby - the maker of model trains and Scalextric, completes its first year of making its toys exclusively in China at the end of March.

"Globalisation was a fact of life that wasn't going away and we couldn't stand on the shore like King Canute," says a M&S spokeswoman.

Taking the plunge

"Our competitors were offering customers better prices than we could hope or imagine so we bit the bullet."

Less than three years ago, about half of M&S's clothes were still supplied by manufacturers in the UK.

Now the majority are imported from North Africa and Eastern Europe, although it still buys more British-made clothes than many of its rivals.

The decision to source more clothes from abroad was a key factor in helping Marks & Spencer tackle its rising financial problems and dwindling high street popularity, according to the spokeswoman.

Essential for survival

While unions are fighting the job cuts, British industry bodies have been more realistic about the inevitable shift towards manufacturing overseas.

"The UK will never again compete on cost alone in a world where many goods can be made more cheaply elsewhere," said Digby Jones, head of the Confederation of British Industry at the end of last year.

But he also stressed the importance of not letting the UK manufacturing sector decline altogether.

"It is a myth that the UK can survive on services alone," he said, "manufacturing is essential rather than optional to a healthy economy."

The CBI and other industry bodies are hoping that the sector can be kept alive by developing more specialised high-technology products.

But there are few signs of a turnaround in the 20 years of decline in the UK's manufacturing sector .

Things have got even worse in recent years, due to the strength of the British pound which is undermining competitiveness even further.

And companies such as Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever and car makers Nissan and Honda have already warned that they may be forced to go elsewhere unless the UK embraces the euro.

About 3.8 million people were in manufacturing jobs in the UK last November, 150,000 fewer than in the previous year. This year, the most pessimistic forecasters expect another 180,000 jobs to go.

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BBC News | BUSINESS | UK manufacturers lured overseas

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By BBC News Online's Briony Hale It should not really have been a surprise that Dyson plans to shift its vacuum cleaner manufacturing from the UK to Malaysia in order to slash costs. Nor should the latest figures that Britain's manufacturing industry suffered its sharpest decline in a decade last year come as a shock.

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Dyson offshores to Malaysia - but why?

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Dyson, the UK company which pioneered the "bagless" vacuum cleaner, is set to move its manufacturing to the Far East with the loss of about 800 jobs.

A final decision has yet to be made, and staff consultation still has to take place.

But company founder James Dyson left little room for doubt that barring exceptional circumstances the move will take place.

"I don't think I can (see an alternative)," he told BBC News Online. "It's been an agonising decision and very much a change of mind."

Points east

But the chance of much lower manufacturing costs in the Far East is clinching it - as well as the prospect of being much closer both to suppliers and new markets.

"Increasingly in the past two to three years our suppliers are Far East based and not over here," he said.

"And our markets are there too. We're the best selling vacuum cleaner in Australia and New Zealand, we're doing well in Japan and we're about to enter the US. And we see other Far Eastern countries as big markets as well."

Although Dyson already has a plant in Malaysia, other countries - including China - are being seen as possible sites.

TUC Secretary General John Monks

Mr Dyson has long been a strong proponent of the euro, and has previously threatened to shift manufacturing overseas if the UK does not clarify its position on the single currency.

That, he said was only one factor here.

Trade unions said a decision to shift Dyson manufacturing away from the company's base in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, would hit the local economy hard.

"Malmesbury is a small market town and Dyson is the only major manufacturer in the area. How is the local economy expected to soak up these redundancies?" said John Monks, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress.

Mr Monks added that a European Union directive obliging employers to consult their workforces over possible lay-offs, now going through the final stage of the EU legislative process, " will stop the Dysons of tomorrow making mass redundancies with no warning."

R&D stays

Whatever decision is made, research and development will remain at the firm's base in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, which has received 32m of investment in the past two years.

That makes Dyson products still "British-engineered", Mr Dyson said.

The firm will also continue to make washing machines in the UK, he said, and at least 1,000 staff will still be working there.

The money saved will be reinvested, Mr Dyson said.

"Remember we're a private company, so in order to invest we need a lot of cash. We want to stay a private company, and we're staying here in Malmesbury."

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BBC News | BUSINESS | Dyson to move to Far East

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Dyson, the UK company which pioneered the "bagless" vacuum cleaner, is set to move its manufacturing to the Far East with the loss of about 800 jobs. A final decision has yet to be made, and staff consultation still has to take place.

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Impact of GBP slump on John Lewis Partnership

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The boss of John Lewis has warned that the fall in the value of the pound could become a "big issue".

Managing director Andy Street said the weak pound could start driving costs higher next year.

He also said it was too early to say if the UK's vote to leave the European Union had affected consumer spending.

His comments came as a survey pointed to the sharpest drop in consumer confidence in 21 years after the UK vote to leave the EU.

Market research firm GfK surveyed 2,000 people after the referendum.

Its confidence index fell by eight points to minus nine, a drop not since seen December 1994.

Consumer confidence and spending are measures watched by the Bank of England when deciding its next move on interest rates. Governor Mark Carney has already warned the UK's economic outlook is "challenging" following the decision to leave the EU.

The GfK survey, which was conducted online, suggested that 60% of consumers expect the general economic situation to worsen over the next year, compared with 46% in June. Just 20% expect it to improve, down from 27% last month.
Is pound weakness due to market errors?
Action needed

In a speech on Thursday evening, Mr Street called for an end to Britain's "political crisis" and the uncertainty over its terms of trade.

That uncertainty has hit the pound, which is trading near a 31-year low and fell below $1.30 earlier this week.

"We hedged this year but the issue is next year - it will have an effect," Mr Street said. "If inflation gets into the value chain, it will feed through."

"For us to start being concerned, the obvious thing for us is a reduction in the growth in consumer spending," he said. "But has it actually changed behaviour? It's just far too soon to say."

He said greater certainty was needed over Britain's trade relationships and on the future of Europeans living and working in the country.

"At the moment this is a political crisis, it's not an economic crisis. But one could turn into the other if not properly handled. We need to know the solution to terms of trade and want it done as soon as possible."

Sales growth at John Lewis slowed in the seven days following the referendum, but Mr Street said Brexit was not to blame as the market had been challenging even before the vote.

Regional variations

The GfK survey was carried out between 30 June and 5 July to capture the mood of consumers immediately after the referendum.

"Our analysis suggests that in the immediate aftermath of the referendum, sectors like travel, fashion and lifestyle, home, living, DIY and grocery are particularly vulnerable to consumers cutting back their discretionary spending," said Joe Staton, head of market dynamics at GfK.

The percentage of people who believe prices will rise rapidly in the next 12 months jumped to 33% from 13% in June.

The survey also picked up regional differences. Consumer confidence in the north of England saw a 19 point drop and fell by 11 points in Scotland. The south of England dropped by just two points.

A separate survey indicated that retailers were already beginning to feel the impact.

The BDO's monthly High Street Sales Tracker showed a strong start to June, with sales growing 3.8% year on year. That decreased throughout the month and by the end of June, after the referendum, sales had fallen by 8.1% compared with last year.

The first official economic figures from the Office for National Statistics that will cover periods after the referendum will start being released in August.

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The boss of John Lewis has warned that the fall in the value of the pound could become a "big issue". Managing director Andy Street said the weak pound could start driving costs higher next year. He also said it was too early to say if the UK's vote to leave the European Union had affected consumer spending.

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p18-22

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3- Global competitiveness case study - Question Sheet