The British pound hit at an all-time low against the Euro for the first time in the 9 years since the Euro launch last week, at 1.1238 Euros to the pound*.

While on the surface, this sounds like bad news, and it is in terms of UK buying     power, as well as the cost of living which, recently reduced petrol prices aside, looks set to continue climbing well into 2009; for exporters it’s actually good news.

 The tide has turned: where once the UK could count on importing goods from overseas cheaply, and it was our own goods and services that were perceived as expensive by other nations, the shoe is, for the time being at least, firmly on the other foot.

The reduced value of the pound makes goods and services UK companies sell abroad appear more competitively priced, so now is a good time to sell to countries that are part of the Eurozone, and see this decline in our currency’s value as an opportunity for business.

Having a foothold in more than one market spreads your risk, so if one economy (i.e. the UK) is not faring well, then you can focus your attention on other markets and hopefully weather the storm.

*At time of going to press, the exchange rate was 1.11 EUR to the £.

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UKTI has earmarked the countries that will be the next big thing in terms of International Trade.

The emerging markets in Brazil, Russia, India and China will continue to be key areas for companies trading internationally, but a report commissioned by UKTI has identified Vietnam, Mexico, Ukraine, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates as the new high-growth markets.

The “Tomorrow’s Markets” report also lists Indonesia, Poland, South Africa and Argentina among the priority markets for expansion - these countries have huge potential for investors and look set to provide companies with a similar level of success and growth that has been experienced in China and India.

So, we could soon start to see an increase in demand for Ukrainian and Vietnamese, and the other languages spoken in these emerging market countries as UK companies turn their attention there. Here’s hoping!

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When even your own Chancellor starts to talk down the economy, you know you’re in for a tough time.  But there is one advantage to the gloom that has led to another record low for Sterling; exporting. British goods and services are now more attractive than ever to foreign markets and a surge in exports could really help slow down the decline.

If you’re new to exporting, it can seem daunting at first but if you already have an English e-commerce platform, a company like  Web-Translations  can help you start trading in another market in just a matter of weeks.  And if you’re worried about servicing foreign-language speaking clients, services like email-translations can help you deal with customer enquiries without the need to recruit linguists into your customer service and fulfilment teams.

It might just be the only way you will survive in a climate where many of your competitors will fail.

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