SMEs Reveal Global Trade Obstacles

Small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) face numerous international trade obstacles, finds a Shipa Freight study. Forty-two percent of respondents say the costs of shipping abroad are too high, or they lack an accurate picture of costs, while 40 percent find it difficult to understand documentation requirements.

A significant minority say their cargo has been held up in customs (39 percent) or lost in transit (27 percent).

SMEs based in emerging markets find export regulations onerous: 67 percent identify export regulations as difficult, compared with 44 percent of SMEs based in mature European markets. Exporters from India, China, and Indonesia (79 percent) say it’s challenging to penetrate markets in Europe.