Strength of sterling shown in machine tool figures.

Trade figures from the MTTA show that UK exports of metalworking machine tools in 1999 were worth 510m [pounds sterling] -- 5.2% lower than in 1998. On the same basis, imports into the UK fell by 25.5% to 520.4m [pounds sterling] giving a trade deficit for the year of 10.4m [pounds sterling] compared with a deficit in 1998 of 160.4m [pounds sterling].

Within these totals, dispatches to the EU amounted to 205.8m [pounds sterling] -- a decline of 18%. Arrivals from these countries fell by 23% to 206.5m [pounds sterling]. According to the MTTA, this gives the UK machine t