Manufacturing Manufacturing, construction and services.

About 250 British industrial companies each have an annual turnover of over Ј500 million. Annual turnover of the biggest company, British Petroleum (BP), makes it the l1th largest industrial group in the world and the second largest in Europe. Five British firms are among the top 20 EU companies in terms of capital employed.

Small businesses, though, are making an increasing contribution to the economy. Between 1980 and 1993 the number of businesses, a large majority of them small firms, rose from 2.4 million to 3.6 million. Companies with fewer than 100 employees account for 50 per cent of the private sector workforce and 30 per cent of turnover. About 97 per cent of firms employ fewer than 20 people.

Manufacturing still has an important role in the economy. Britain excels in high-technology industries, such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, aerospace and offshore equipment, where British companies are among the world's largest and most successful. A selection of some of the major industries is described in this section.

Chemicals and Related Products

Britain's chemical industry is the third largest in Europe. Over half of its output is exported. Exports in 1994 were worth Ј18,700 million, compared with imports of Ј14,500 million. Traditionally, Britain has been a major producer of basic industrial chemicals, such as basic organic and inorganic chemicals, plastics and fertilisers. In recent years the most rapid growth has been in specialised chemicals, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. ICI is the sixth largest chemical company in the world and the world's largest paint manufacturer.

Britain's pharmaceutical industry is the world's fourth biggest exporter of medicines, accounting for around 12 per cent of the world market. Glaxo Wellcome became the largest pharmaceutical company in the world when Glaxo took over Wellcome in 1995. British firms have discovered and developed 13 of the world's 50 best-selling drugs, including Glaxo Wellcome's ulcer treatment Zantac and Zeneca's beta-blocker Tenormin. Other major developments pioneered in Britain are semi-synthetic penicillins and cephalosporins (both powerful antibiotics) and new treatments for asthma, arthritis, migraine and coronary heart disease.

The British biotechnology industry is second only in pre-eminence to that of the United States. Biotechnology has enabled companies to manufacture products using genetic modification. Britain has made major advances in the development of drugs such as human insulin and interferons, genetically-engineered vaccines, the production of antibiotics by fermentation, agricultural products, such as infection-resistant crops, and medical diagnostic devices.

Mechanical Engineering

Machine-building is an area where British firms excel, especially in construction and earth-moving equipment, wheeled tractors, internal combustion engines, textile machinery, medical equipment, fork-lift trucks, pumps and compressors. Britain is one of the world's major producers of tractors, which account for around three-quarters of the output of agricultural equipment. It is the world's eighth largest producer of machine tools.