A NORTH Yorkshire materials technology business has appeared in a new installation at Heathrow Airport to celebrate the UK’s top exports.

Easingwold-based Industrial Textiles and Plastics Ltd was one of 13 companies on show within a cargo-inspired exhibition at the airport’s T5 terminal. Employing 25 people, Industrial Textiles and Plastics (ITP) turns more than £5 million through developing protective engineered textiles.

The firm exports more than 30 per cent of its sales, principally in the construction, environmental protection, petrochemical, marine and offshore, defence and chemical protection clothing industries.

The exhibition was launched as part of UK Trade & Investment Export Week, and celebrated a 5.3 per cent increase in the volume of cargo handled by the airport.

Marc van der Voort, managing director of ITP, said: “The export division of our business has seen notable growth over recent years with particular interest in our scaffold sheeting and building membrane products from across the globe.

“We use a range of transport options, including air freight out of Heathrow to Dubai and Thailand, which allows us to respond quickly and reliably to customer requirements.”

The airport exhibition was also created in response to new research which showed that people in Yorkshire have little knowledge of the scale and diversity of goods that are exported from the UK.

The UK is Europe’s second biggest exporter, second only to Germany, and the fifth biggest exporter worldwide.

In the survey, 90 per cent of Yorkshire residents did not know that 408 tonnes of diamonds are transported by air across the world from the UK, the highest value export at more than £4.3 billion. A further 57 per cent didn’t know the UK export 17,350 tonnes of fresh fish.

John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow chief executive, said: “As the leading airport in the UK for air freight, we wanted to celebrate the significant role that exports play in growing the UK’s economy. “Twenty-six per cent of UK exports by value go through Heathrow and if we expand the airport we can keep Britain at the heart of a shifting global economy and drive export led growth.”

The number-one item that is exported from Heathrow by value is jewellery and precious metals, worth about £4.4 billion, followed by boilers and machinery, worth £2.1 billion, and then medicines and pharmaceuticals, worth £1.2 billion.