A survey involving over 2000 exporters, conducted by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) before the disruption caused by the Iran War, has found that the percentage of businesses reporting increased export orders in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026 (25%) was well below the 31% reported in Q2 2018, before Brexit, Covid, the war in Ukraine, US tariffs and other geopolitical disruption.
Services exporters also appear to be struggling with 23% reporting increased orders, against 29% for manufacturers.
The survey data also shows there is a major divide between companies depending on the size of the business, with more than a third of larger firms (38%) reporting an increase in export orders as against barely a quarter (23%) of SMEs. The smallest firms, those with fewer than 10 employees, have struggled even more with 18% reporting increased export orders in Q1 2026, 26% a fall and 56% saying that there has been no change.
William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, 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.”
The BCC has called on the Government to boost export support and move more trade processes online. Above all, it wants to see faster progress on the EU reset generally, and particularly on the EU-UK deals on food and drink exports.
