LONDON, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of registered businesses in Britain trading internationally has increased in the past year, figures released Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.
The agency's annual business survey also shows that London remains Britain's hotspot for international trading.
The ONS figures show the number of companies in Britain, aside from those working in the financial business economy, who export and import.
The number grew from 309,300 in 2014 to 326,200 in 2015, the latest period for which figures are available. It shows that the number of non-financial sector businesses in Britain who trade internationally is 15.1 percent of the total, the same as the previous year.
ONS said over two-thirds (67.4 percent) of foreign-owned businesses in Britain, a total of 16,000 businesses, traded internationally in 2015.
London remained the region in Britain with the highest number of businesses trading internationally. Despite experiencing a fall from 74,400 businesses in 2014 to 71,500 in 2015, London accounted for nearly a quarter (23.7 percent) of British non-financial businesses trading internationally.
The figures show there has been a small increase, between 2014 and 2015, in the proportion of businesses importing goods, up from 7.3 percent to 7.6 percent. The proportion of businesses exporting goods has remained unchanged at 5.2 percent.
Despite a fall (of 27.6 percent) in the number of businesses trading internationally, Mining and quarrying remained the sector with the highest proportion (32.8 percent) of businesses trading internationally in 2015.
