Brexit effects supply woes for small UK manufacturers: Survey

More than half of about 300 small British manufacturers surveyed in January lamented over the price hikes and disruption woes in the supply chain caused by the new customs checks set in place as part of the post-Brexit trade restrictions.

In the survey conducted by the South West Manufacturing Advisory Service (SWMAS) in January that was participated by around 300 small U.K. manufacturers, 65% of them reported higher costs, and 54% said they had encountered greater disruptions exporting goods to the EU.

The study also reflected that around 20% of the respondents thought they might gain from customers bringing work back to the U.K. from the EU.

Britain has previously stated that trade difficulties were just “teething problems” and added last week that the government would provide some 20 million pounds ($27.7 million) to aid small firms to get used to the new trade restrictions. A new set of trade restrictions will be implemented later in the year.

Earlier, the Bank of England predicted that Brexit-related trade disruption would lower economic output by 1% during the current quarter, which would be equivalent to 5 billion pounds. The central bank also expects trade activities to decline by 10% in the long term.