THE importance of manufacturing to the North-East economy has been demonstrated by figures showing exports from the region are growing at a faster rate than in any other English area.

Largely driven by manufacturers such as Nissan, which this week announced the latest Qashqai model would be built in Sunderland, the record 12-month total for exports of nearly £12.8bn was 29.5 per cent higher than the previous year and dwarfed the national average increase of 17.6 per cent.

The first three months of the year saw exports from the region reaching £3.4bn, up from £3.3bn in the previous quarter, which had previously been a record for the North- East.

The figures for the year to March, released by HM Revenue and Customs yesterday, mean exports from the region have seen five successive quarters of growth, as well as a 4.4 per cent increase in the number of firms sending their goods abroad.

It mirrors data released by manufacturers’ organisation EEF on Monday, showing that manufacturing in the region had expanded in five consecutive quarters, driven primarily by exports.

Exports of machinery and transport equipment, including cars, was the fastest-growing sector, with sales of vehicles alone increasing by 50 per cent, or £1.4bn, to £4.4bn.

Last night, EEF’s North- East spokesman Tony Sarginson said: “The importance of manufacturing to the North- East economy can be clearly demonstrated in these export figures.

“It is not just Nissan itself, as much as they are important as the catalyst and driving force, it is also the supply chains into Nissan which include a lot of the region’s companies.”

While welcoming the figures as a “tremendous performance”, Ross Smith, head of policy at the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC), said the dominance of a handful of firms showed there was still work to be done.

He said: “There still remains the potential to grow exports much further as the North-East is reliant on a relatively small number of exporters, particularly in the chemical and automotive industries, for its impressive performance.

“The recent UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) strategy to focus support more on small to medium-sized enterprises is welcome and we will be hoping to see growth in the number of exporters as a result of that initiative as soon as possible.”

David Coppock, UKTI international trade director, said: “This proves yet again that there is still a strong demand around the world for North- East products.”

The North-East’s fastest growing single export market continues to be Russia, with £74m worth of orders to the eastern European state in the last quarter and £605m in the last year, a 254 per cent increase.

Nissan nearly doubled its sales to Russia last year, selling more than 102,000 cars.

It led to Russia overtaking the UK as the car manufacturer’s biggest European market.

The US remains the largest single market for North-East, goods with a 12-month export value of £2bn, an increase of 23.5 per cent on the previous year.