Maybe Oxford manufacturer is stronger, having exported the first ton (6)

I believe the answer is:

souter

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'first ton' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'maybe oxford manufacturer is stronger having exported the' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'oxford' could be 'ou' (abbreviation for Oxford University) and 'ou' is located in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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