Homeward bound

The return of manufacturing from offshore to the UK and other developed economies is more than just a rumour. A survey earlier this year by EEF, the UK manufacturers´ organisation, and law firm Squire Sanders discovered that one in six UK manufacturing companies had relocated - or `reshored´ - production in the last three years and that one in six had reshored sourcing to a UK-based supplier. The findings confirmed those from a 2009 survey, when one in seven had reshored, and they have been heralded by many as signs of a rebirth in British manufacturing. Indeed, in a further poll of EEF members at the organisation´s 2014 conference, they were almost unanimous in declaring that reshoring would help drive UK economic growth over the next five years, with 29 per cent saying it would do so significantly. Others are coming to similar conclusions. In a report published earlier this year, professional services firm PwC estimated that the reshoring trend could create around 100,000 to 200,000 UK jobs over the next decade andboost annual national output by around £6́bn to £12bn at current values by the mid-2020s - that represents a GDP boost of between 0.4 and 0.8 per cent.