How UK businesses disappeared from world's biggest trade fairs
B efore the pandemic, British businesses used to be the second-largest exhibitors at Drinktec, with about 100 companies attending the largest trade fair in the world for the drinks industry. This year, only a quarter of that number will attend the event in Munich.
Similarly dramatic falls have been seen at trade shows in other industries. About 1,400 British fashion and textile businesses visited the industry's major trade fairs each year before Covid-19; now the figure is closer to 300.
The trade association for Britain's baby products industry used to organise three UK pavilions at big events in Germany, China and the United States but hasn't organised one since 2019, due to a lack of appetite from British companies.
While the shrinking presence of UK businesses abroad has coincided with the pandemic, it appears to be more the product of a little-noticed change in government policy.
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