At this moment in time we are importing very little, i drive the cranes in a container port so see this first hand, we have not even had the big rush on Christmas trade from about August because most of the christmas goods were allready here by June.cookmanchef wrote:These are very strange times Kendo and whereas normally a big rate cut would weaken sterling, this time it probably won't have much effect. The Fed and the BOJ have cut rates and their currencies have strengthened as they are seen as safe havens.
The UK government is planning a big spending plan on infrastructure projects to stimulate growth, I believe our currency independence gives us a better chance of an early recovery than the eurozone.
It means a hefty chunk of borrowing but our public debt is currently 43.4% of GDP compared to Germany at 65%, France 67% and Italy over 100%!!
The UK is a large importer so they want a relatively strong pound, Thailand needs its export business, however at the moment speculators are in control and governments powerless. My guess is the rate will be a lot more stable now and then start to rise when the UK shows the first signs of recovery next year.
Another issue is that all the empty containers get shipped back out, for the last couple of years they have been backloading with waste paper, scrap metals and plastics, i know for a fact that the price off scrap metal has crashed, i know some lads that go around collect scrap metal and they were getting £225 a ton and know are getting just £15 a ton the China has stopped buying at the moment.
We are a consumer led industry and at our port we are down by around 40% all these huge container ships are coming in very light, and making small exchanges, i personaly have been hit very hard by this and have lost an considerable amount of money hence no holidays this year, i am only working about 30 hours a week this time last year i was knocking up 70-80 hours , so to combat this i have just perchased a van to be a part time courier.
Kendo.
