The UK Trade Balance deficit is set to narrow to -7.2 billion pounds in March from -7.3 billion in the previous month. The result is likely to owe more to a decline in imports rather than swelling cross-border demand. Even after excluding oil shipments to factor out the dramatic collapse in crude prices over the past year, exports have trended sharply lower since July 2008 and snapped a multi-year uptrend dating back to the beginning of 2004 in January. To that effect, an uptick in the headline external balance figure speaks of the timid consumer, not an improving trade environment. Lackluster overseas sales have weighed on manufacturing, a sector that tops the list of UK exports and employs 20% of the country’s workforce, with Industrial Production expected to post another record-setting drop at -12.8% in the year to March.