UK regional trade in goods statistics: third quarter 2023
This section is National Statistics
Find data on the UK's international trade in goods at summary and product level, by UK regions and devolved administrations.
From January 2022, HMRC implemented a change in data collection methods affecting trade in goods data on imports from the EU into Great Britain. This creates a break in the time series, users should take care when making comparisons with quarters and years prior to 2022.
Furthermore, a new method for EU business counts was introduced in the first quarter 2022 publication, which results in a break in series from previous RTS EU business counts. EU and total business counts from the 2021 data period onwards will therefore not be comparable with RTS business counts published prior to 2021.
More information on recent data source changes and it’s impacts on RTS can be found in the commentary linked below.
Summary of trade trends
In the 12 months ending September 2023, compared with the previous 12 months:
- all UK countries experienced an increase in the value of exports, except for Scotland which decreased
- England and Northern Ireland experienced an increase in the value of imports, while Wales and Scotland saw decreases
- export values increased for all English regions, except for Yorkshire and the Humber, London and the South East which decreased
- import values increased for all English regions, except for Yorkshire and the Humber which decreased
UK total goods trade by UK country
UK total trade and trade by UK country: year to September 2023 compared with the previous 12 months
|
Exports |
Change in year (%) |
Imports |
Change in year (%) |
|
|
UK |
370.0 |
2.7 |
611.8 |
2.2 |
|
England |
265.6 |
2.7 |
458.9 |
1.0 |
|
Wales |
19.9 |
2.0 |
22.0 |
-3.4 |
|
Scotland |
35.1 |
-0.3 |
32.3 |
-8.3 |
|
Northern Ireland |
10.5 |
17.9 |
9.7 |
6.0 |
Note: UK figures includes trade that cannot be allocated to a region.
Top trading partners by UK country, year to September 2023
You can create and explore more UK country data in the interactive data tables.
Top trading partners by trade value
|
Exports |
Value |
Imports |
Value |
|
|
England |
USA |
42.1 |
Germany |
62.0 |
|
Wales |
USA |
3.2 |
USA |
3.9 |
|
Scotland |
Netherlands |
6.9 |
Norway |
6.7 |
|
Northern Ireland |
Ireland |
4.1 |
Ireland |
3.4 |
Partner countries with largest increase in value compared with previous year
|
Exports |
Imports |
|
|
England |
USA |
USA |
|
Wales |
France |
USA |
|
Scotland |
Netherlands |
USA |
|
Northern Ireland |
Ireland |
USA |
Partner countries with largest decrease in value compared with previous year
|
Exports |
Imports |
|
|
England |
Netherlands |
Norway |
|
Wales |
Belgium |
Japan |
|
Scotland |
Ireland |
Norway |
|
Northern Ireland |
Thailand |
China |
Top traded commodities by UK country, year to September 2023
You can explore SITC values by UK region in the accompanying data tables.
Top exported commodities (SITC Divisions) by value
|
Commodity (SITC Division) |
Value (£ billion) | Change in year (%) | |
|
England |
Machinery & transport equipment |
117.8 |
18.0 |
|
Wales |
Machinery & transport equipment |
8.2 |
15.1 |
|
Scotland |
Mineral fuels, lubricants & related materials |
11.4 |
-8.7 |
|
Northern Ireland |
Machinery & transport equipment |
3.5 |
22.2 |
Top imported commodities (SITC Divisions) by value
|
|
Commodity (SITC Division) |
Value (£ billion) |
Change in year (%) |
|
England |
Machinery & transport equipment |
175.3 |
16.7 |
|
Wales |
Machinery & transport equipment |
7.7 |
11.4 |
|
Scotland |
Machinery & transport equipment |
11.6 |
11.7 |
|
Northern Ireland |
Machinery & transport equipment |
2.7 |
23.9 |
Full commentary
Visit GOV.UK for more details and analysis of third quarter 2023, (July to September) data.
Datasets
Access quarterly data for combined EU and non-EU trade.
Earlier data
Find earlier regional trade statistics.
Get help with using data
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- learn more about this data and our data sources
- understand key terms and definitions
- find out about methods we use to produce statistics