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Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for UK businesses

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Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for UK businesses

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1. What DIT is doing to provide support to businesses impacted by COVID-19

We have established a dedicated team to support British businesses facing disruption due to the spread of the virus.

We are actively reaching out to UK businesses to understand the challenges they are encountering and how best we can support.

Our teams are also helping businesses engage with customs authorities to ensure smooth clearance of UK company products, and are providing advice on IP and other trade problems.

2. Supply chain support

DIT has a global network of relationships with businesses across the world and, where possible, we will seek to provide advice on alternative suppliers.

We are not able to recommend or promote any individual firms, but DIT can direct queries to professional service and advisory firms who can assist UK companies to seek alternative suppliers.

3. UKEF facilities available to cover exports to China

UK Export Finance ( UKEF) has significant capacity (up to £4 billion) to support exports to China, and welcomes approaches for support from UK businesses.

For example, if you wish to offer your Chinese buyers additional time to pay for orders, but have cashflow constraints, UKEF can provide trade finance support in the form of guarantees on bank loans to support working capital. If you are concerned about getting paid, UKEF can offer export insurance for future shipments where it is not available from the private sector.

UKEF can also offer buyer finance in the form of guarantees on bank lending should your Chinese customer wish to access finance for its UK purchases.

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