Britain’s international trade activity appeared, at first glance, to be following a business-as-usual track in December. International trade activity in merchandise saw growth of just 3.4% year over year in December, including trade with the EU that rose by just 2.8%. Yet, a drop in oil prices and resulting 19.7% drop in fuel import values from the EU masked a faster underlying development for industrial supply chain products. Imports of manufactured materials from the EU climbed 10.8%, including non-ferrous metal components which jumped 54.8%, while shipments of machinery increased 1...