The survey of 2,600 businesses by the British Chambers of Commerce and DHL found that 71 per cent of exporters expect to increase their turnover this quarter and 40 per cent plan to take on more staff – the highest on record. 

Half of exporters said their exports increased in the last quarter, compared to just 6 per cent who said they fell. 

BCC director-general John Longworth said: “These results give us many reasons to feel cheery. There is much to be happy with in these results. 

“Our exporters are selling more, and hiring more, showing ambition and willingness to export and grow their business. They are taking advantage of the opportunities on offer when breaking into new markets and it is great to see that the volume of exports is now at an all time high.

“There is however so much more potential to realise. The government’s target of increasing exports to £1trillion by 2020 is a difficult target, but not insurmountable. But these businesses, while making every effort to expand into new markets, cannot do it alone.

“Government and civil servants must also play their part so we can make real in-roads into high-growth markets. And we simply must spend far more on trade support than our current 0.02% of GDP, if we are to rebalance our economy towards net exports.”

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