UK trade: December 2022

• The value of goods imports increased by £1.6 billion (2.9%) in December 2022; after removing the effect of inflation, imports of goods increased by £0.7 billion (1.5%).
• Goods imports from EU countries increased by £1.0 billion (3.8%) and imports from non-EU countries rose by £0.5 billion (1.9%).
• Gas prices increased sharply in December 2022, contributing to a large increase in the value of gas imports from Norway.
• The value of goods exports decreased by £0.8 billion (2.3%) in December 2022, linked to a fall in exports to non-EU countries; after removing the effect of inflation, total exports of goods decreased by £0.1 billion (0.3%).

• The total trade in goods and services deficit, excluding precious metals, widened by £2.4 billion to £26.8 billion in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022, driven by lower exports of both goods and services.

• The trade in goods deficit, excluding precious metals, widened by £1.0 billion to £64.0 billion in Quarter 4 2022, while the trade in services surplus narrowed by £1.4 billion to £37.2 billion.

• The total annual trade in goods and services balance, excluding precious metals, widened by £85.3 billion to a deficit of £108.0 billion in 2022 when compared with 2021, driven by a 32.5% increase in import values.

EU imports and exports

In January 2022, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) implemented a data collection change affecting data on imports from the EU to Great Britain (GB). This followed a similar data collection change in January 2021 for data on exports of goods to the EU from GB. We applied adjustments to our estimates of goods imports from the EU for the period January to December 2021 to reflect this data collection change in our UK trade: November 2022 release on 13 January 2023.

The adjustments to 2021 EU imports estimates apply for 2021 only and bring imports and exports statistics onto a like-for-like basis. The full timeseries for imports from the EU still contains a discontinuity, but now from January 2021, rather than January 2022. We will work with HMRC to consider possible options to account for this discontinuity.

Staged customs controls

In 2021, the use of Staged Customs Controls (SCC) allowed customs declarations to be reported up to 175 days after the date of import for imports of non-controlled goods from the EU to GB. Full customs controls were introduced in January 2022, while July 2022 marked the first full month of data where delayed customs declarations submitted under SCC could not be included. Temporary arrangements still apply for imports of goods from Ireland to GB.

Work is ongoing to review the impact of SCC on estimates of goods imports from the EU in 2022, and we will be publishing an Impact of trade in goods data collection changes on UK trade statistics: update on Staged Customs Controls article on 17 February 2023. This article summarises the latest analysis on the potential impact of SCC by comparing Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates of UK goods imports from the EU with Eurostat estimates of EU goods exports to the UK. More background is provided in our Trading places: How we are producing consistent estimates of trade figures following the UK’s EU exit blog post, published alongside this bulletin.

We are continuing to work with HMRC to investigate the impact of SCC and consider any adjustments that may be required, and we will keep users informed of our progress.

Total imports of goods increased by £1.6 billion (2.9%) in December 2022, with rising imports from both EU and non-EU countries. Total exports of goods decreased by £0.8 billion (2.3%) in December 2022, with a fall in exports to non-EU countries partially offset by an increase in exports to the EU (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Imports from the EU were £1.3 billion higher than from non-EU countries, and exports to the EU were £1.0 billion higher than to non-EU countries in December 2022.

Figure 1: Imports of goods from both EU and non-EU countries increased in December 2022

EU and non-EU goods imports and exports, excluding precious metals, current prices, December 2019 to December 2022

Notes:

1. Caution should be taken when interpreting these data as there is a discontinuity from January 2021 in EU trade following an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data collection change. Our Impact of trade in goods data collection changes on UK trade statistics article provides more detail.
2. Staged Customs Controls allowed traders importing goods from the EU to delay customs declarations in 2021 by up to 175 days, and as a result some double counting may have occurred between January and June 2022. Please read our Trading places: How we are producing consistent estimates of trade figures following the UK’s EU exit blog post for more detail.

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When removing the effect of inflation, total goods imports increased by £0.7 billion (1.5%) in December 2022. This was because of a £1.1 billion (4.9%) increase in imports from EU countries, and was slightly offset by a £0.5 billion (2.4%) decrease in imports from the non-EU (Figure 2).

Total goods exports decreased by £0.1 billion (0.3%) in December 2022, after the effect of inflation has been removed. Exports to non-EU countries decreased by £0.7 billion (5.1%) while exports to the EU increased by £0.6 billion (4.9%).

Figure 2: Imports from non-EU countries increased in value terms in December 2022, however after removing the effect of inflation, imports from non-EU countries decreased

Imports and exports of goods, excluding precious metals, current prices and chained volume measures, EU and non-EU, December 2019 to December 2022

Notes:

1. Caution should be taken when interpreting these data as there is a discontinuity from January 2021 in EU trade following an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data collection change. Our Impact of trade in goods data collection changes on UK trade statistics article provides more detail.
2. Staged Customs Controls allowed traders importing goods from the EU to delay customs declarations in 2021 by up to 175 days, and as a result some double counting may have occurred between January and June 2022. Please read our Trading places: How we are producing consistent estimates of trade figures following the UK’s EU exit blog post for more detail.

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Imports

Imports from the EU increased by £1.0 billion (3.8%) in December 2022. There were increases across several commodities, with the largest increases being a £0.6 billion rise in imports of machinery and transport equipment and a £0.3 billion increase in fuel imports. Conversely, there was a decrease of £0.4 billion in chemical imports (Figure 3). The increase in machinery and transport equipment imports from the EU was because of higher ship imports from Germany. Note that the series on trade of ships has been very volatile in recent months, because of large individual purchases. Because of this, caution should be applied when viewing monthly change statistics.

Imports from non-EU countries increased by £0.5 billion (1.9%) in December 2022. Imports of fuels increased by £2.0 billion, because of higher imports of gas from Norway and the US. Meanwhile, machinery and transport equipment imports from non-EU countries fell by £1.0 billion this month following a large increase in November 2022; this decrease was driven by lower ships imports from Bermuda and electrical machinery from China.

Figure 3: Imports of goods from non-EU countries increased in December 2022, driven by an increase in imports of fuels

EU and non-EU goods imports by commodity, current prices, December 2020 to December 2022

Notes:

1. Caution should be taken when interpreting these data as there is a discontinuity from January 2021 in EU trade following an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data collection change. Our Impact of trade in goods data collection changes on UK trade statistics article provides more detail.
2. Staged Customs Controls allowed traders importing goods from the EU to delay customs declarations in 2021 by up to 175 days, and as a result some double counting may have occurred between January and June 2022. Please read our Trading places: How we are producing consistent estimates of trade figures following the UK’s EU exit blog post for more detail.

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The total value of fuel imported from non-EU countries increased for the first time since August 2022 because of sharply rising gas prices in December. When the effect of inflation is removed, fuel imports from non-EU countries increased by a much smaller amount in December 2022 (Figure 4).

Exports

The £0.5 billion (3.1%) increase in exports to the EU in December 2022 was driven by a £0.3 billion rise in machinery and transport equipment exports (Figure 5), led by higher exports of mechanical power generators to Germany and the Netherlands.

The £1.2 billion (7.4%) fall in exports to non-EU countries was driven by a £0.5 billion decrease in exports of machinery and transport equipment, and a decrease of £0.4 billion in exports of both chemicals and fuels. The decrease in exports of machinery and transport equipment was because of lower exports of road vehicles to China. Lower chemical exports reflected falling exports of organic chemicals to the US following a spike in November. The decrease in fuels exports was because of lower exports of crude oil to China.

Figure 5: Exports of goods to non-EU countries decreased in December 2022, driven by lower exports of machinery and transport equipment, chemicals and fuel

EU and non-EU goods exports by commodity, current prices, December 2020 to December 2022

Notes:

1. Caution should be taken when interpreting these data as there is a discontinuity from January 2021 in EU trade following an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data collection change. Our Impact of trade in goods data collection changes on UK trade statistics article provides more detail.
2. Staged Customs Controls allowed traders importing goods from the EU to delay customs declarations in 2021 by up to 175 days, and as a result some double counting may have occurred between January and June 2022. Please read our Trading places: How we are producing consistent estimates of trade figures following the UK’s EU exit blog post for more detail.

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Early estimates suggest imports of services increased by £0.1 billion (0.4%) to £22.1 billion in December 2022, while exports decreased by £0.2 billion (0.4%) to £34.2 billion (Figure 6). This release includes data for Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022 for the first time, which are used to estimate monthly trade values for October, November and December, replacing our previous estimates for those months. View our UK Trade Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) report for more detail on how our trade in services statistics are compiled.

As is the case with trade in goods, imports and exports of services have been affected by rising prices in recent months. When removing the effect of inflation, service imports increased by £0.1 billion (0.3%) to £18.5 billion while service exports declined by £0.1 billion (0.4%) to £28.5 billion in December 2022.

Figure 6: Imports of services slightly increased in December 2022, while exports of services decreased

Imports and exports of services, current prices and chained volume measures, December 2019 to December 2022

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The Bank of England Agents' summary of business conditions for Quarter 4 2022 reported a continued modest decrease in business activity. They stated that reduced household incomes continued to weigh on demand for consumer services, despite some boost from bookings over the Christmas period. In contrast, business services contacts reported growth, though the weakness in consumer demand was increasingly affecting business services contacts that supply consumer-facing firms. The S&P Global's Purchasing Managers' Index for December reported that "Business activity in the service sector steadied after two months of decline but new orders for services continued to fall".

Total imports of goods decreased by £3.5 billion (2.1%) in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022, compared with Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2022 (Table 2). Goods imports from non-EU countries fell in Quarter 4, while imports from EU countries increased. Exports of goods over the same period decreased by £4.5 billion (4.5%), with exports to both the EU and non-EU countries falling.

Imports of services decreased slightly by £0.1 billion (0.2%) in Quarter 4 2022 compared with Quarter 3 2022, and exports of services decreased by £1.6 billion (1.5%).

Imports of goods from the EU countries increased by £5.7 billion (7.5%) in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022, with imports of machinery and transport equipment rising by £2.7 billion and chemical imports up by £1.4 billion (Figure 7).

Imports from non-EU countries decreased by £9.2 billion (10.4%) in Quarter 4, driven by a £10.7 billion fall in fuel imports, which is linked to falling fuel prices over Quarter 4, lowering the value of fuels imports.

Exports to EU countries fell by £3.2 billion (6.1%) in Quarter 4, driven by a £2.6 billion fall in exports of fuels and a £0.6 billion decrease in chemical exports. Exports of machinery and transport equipment increased slightly by £0.3 billion in Quarter 4.

Exports to non-EU countries fell by £1.4 billion (2.7%) in Quarter 4, driven by a £2.1 billion decrease in material manufactures exports, linked to lower exports of silver. This decrease was slightly offset by a £0.5 billion increase in chemicals exports.

Figure 7: Imports of fuels from non-EU countries decreased in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022

Changes in imports and exports by goods commodity group, excluding unspecified goods, current prices, Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022 compared with Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2022

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Imports of services decreased by £0.1 billion (0.2%) in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022 compared with Quarter 3 (July to Sept), with the largest fall being a £1.2 billion decrease in other business services. These falls were offset by a £1.5 billion increase in imports of travel services (Figure 8).

Exports of services decreased by £1.6 billion (1.5%) in Quarter 4. Exports of insurance and pension services and other business services decreased by £1.3 billion and £1.2 billion, respectively. Conversely, exports of transport services increased by £0.7 billion over the same period.

The total trade deficit, excluding precious metals, widened by £2.4 billion to £26.8 billion in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022, however the deficit has remained relatively stable throughout 2022 (Figure 9). When removing the effect of inflation, the total trade deficit, excluding precious metals, widened by £9.2 billion to £18.8 billion in Quarter 4 2022. In both current price and chain volume measures, the widening deficit was driven by decreasing exports of goods over the quarter.

The trade in goods deficit, excluding precious metals, widened by £1.0 billion to £64.0 billion in Quarter 4 2022 and the trade in services surplus narrowed by £1.4 billion to £37.2 billion.

The total annual trade in goods and services balance, excluding precious metals, widened by £85.3 billion to a deficit of £108.0 billion in 2022, when compared with 2021 (Table 3).

Total annual imports increased by £218.2 billion (32.5%) to £889.2 billion in 2022 when compared with 2021 and were £186.5 billion (26.5%) higher than 2018. Similarly, annual total exports increased by £132.9 billion (20.5%) to £781.2 billion in 2022 when compared with 2021 and were £109.0 billion (16.2%) higher than 2018.

When removing the effect of inflation, total annual imports increased by £85.6 billion (13.2%) to £732.9 billion in 2022 compared with 2021 and were £21.4 billion (3.0%) higher than 2018. Total annual exports increased by £41.7 billion (6.7%) to £664.8 billion in 2022 when compared with 2021 and were £21.5 billion (3.1%) lower than 2018.

Explore the 2022 trade in goods data using our interactive tools. Our data break down UK trade in goods with 234 countries by 125 commodities.

Use our map to get a better understanding of what goods the UK traded with a country. Select a country by hovering over it (desktop only) or use the drop-down menu.

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Notes:

1. For more information about our methods and how we compile these statistics, please see our Trade in goods, country-by-commodity experimental data: 2011 to 2016 article. Users should note that the data published alongside this release are official statistics and no longer experimental.
2. These data are our best estimate of these bilateral UK trade flows. Users should note that alternative estimates are available, in some cases, through the statistical agencies for bilateral countries or through central databases such as UN Comtrade.
3. This interactive map denotes country boundaries in accordance with statistical classifications set out within Appendix 4 of the Balance of Payments (BoP) Vademecum (PDF, 1.1MB) and do not represent the UK policy on disputed territories.

You can also explore the 2022 trade in goods data by commodity, such as car exports to the EU, and UK tea or coffee imports.

Select a commodity from the drop-down menu or select the levels with your digit or cursor to explore the data.

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Download the data

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Notes:

1. For more information about our methods and how we compile these statistics, please see our Trade in goods, country-by-commodity experimental data: 2011 to 2016 article. Users should note that the data published alongside this release are no longer experimental.
2. These data are our best estimate of these bilateral UK trade flows. Users should note that alternative estimates are available, in some cases, via the statistical agencies for bilateral countries or through central databases such as UN Comtrade.
3. These interactive charts denote country boundaries in accordance with statistical classifications set out within Appendix 4 of the Balance of Payments (BoP) Vademecum (PDF, 1.1MB) and does not represent the UK policy on disputed territories.

In accordance with our National Accounts Revisions Policy, the data in this release have been revised from January 2022 to November 2022 for both goods and services.

Chained volume measures (CVMs)

CVM estimates are a "real" measure in that they have had the effect of inflation removed to measure the change in volume between consecutive periods, fixing the prices of goods and services in one period (the base year).

Current price measures (CPs)

These estimates measure the actual price paid for goods or services and are not adjusted for inflation. Unless otherwise stated, all current price data are provided in £ million and are seasonally adjusted.

Inflation

Inflation is the change in the average price level of goods and services over a period of time.

Implied deflators (IDEFs)

An IDEF shows the implied change in average prices for the respective components of the trade balance, for example, the IDEF for imports will show the average price movement for imports.

Precious metals and non-monetary gold

Precious metals include precious metals, silver, platinum and palladium, and it forms part of the commodity group "unspecified goods". Non-monetary gold comprises the majority of this group and is the technical term for gold bullion not owned by central banks.

Trade balance

The trade balance is the difference between exports and imports or exports minus imports. When the value of exports is greater than the value of imports, the trade balance is in surplus. When the value of imports is greater than the value of exports, the trade balance is in deficit. The balance is sometimes referred to as "net exports".

A full Glossary of economic terms is available.

Unless otherwise specified, data within this bulletin are in current prices and have not been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation. Official estimates of price inflation have risen strongly in recent months, and chained volume measures data, which we refer to as having the effect of inflation removed, can be found in our UK trade publication tables and UK trade time series.

The UK leaving the EU and the subsequent transition period, along with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, supply chain disruption and global recession, have caused higher levels of volatility in trade statistics in recent years. The monthly analysis shows short-term trade movements, but it is important to note that monthly data can be erratic, and therefore movements should be treated with caution.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) data impact

Because of the challenges of data collection during the coronavirus pandemic, we have experienced challenges around the level of survey and data returns for this trade release.

Data sources

Data from the quarterly International Trade in Services (ITIS) Survey make up over 50% of trade in services data. View our UK trade Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) for more detail.

Data from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) are the main source for travel services, historically making up around 8% of total imports. Following suspension of the survey in 2020, the survey has now largely resumed, with a very small number of ports yet to have resumed interviewing. IPS data are being used with a small adjustment to account for the reduction in sample size, and we continue to quality assure our estimates using complimentary data sources. However, we advise continued caution when using these data until the IPS is fully operational. View our UK trade QMI for more detail.

Data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) make up over 90% of trade in goods value and are the main source. We have worked closely with HMRC to prepare for the change in collection of customs data that occurred at the end of the EU exit transition period. View further information in our Impact of EU exit on the collection and compilation of UK trade statistics article.

In line with international standards, our headline trade statistics contain the UK's exports and imports of non-monetary gold. View more information about our recording of non-monetary gold. Unless otherwise specified, data within this bulletin are in current prices. This means they have not been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation.

Method

Trade is measured through both exports and imports of goods and services. Data are supplied by over 30 sources, including several administrative sources, with HMRC being the largest for trade in goods.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) UK trade figures are produced on a country of dispatch basis, which records imports as coming from the country dispatching the shipments. However, trade figures can also be produced on a country-of-origin basis, as is used by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Users should be aware of the different accounting methods used, and the resulting differences across trade figures.

Monthly trade in services data are taken from quarterly trade in services data and split across the months within that quarter through estimation. In months where we have a full quarter's data, we revise previous estimates of monthly values within that quarter.

View more detailed information about the methods used to produce UK trade statistics in our UK trade methodology.

National Statistics designation status

The UK Statistics Authority suspended the National Statistics designation of UK trade (PDF, 72.9KB) on 14 November 2014. We have now responded to all of the specific requirements of the reassessment of UK trade. As part of our engagement with the Office for Statistics Regulation team, we are sharing our continuous improvement and development plans to support UK trade statistics regaining National Statistics status. We welcome feedback on our new trade statistics, developments and future plans by email to trade@ons.gov.uk.

Trade asymmetries

Asymmetries can be caused by a range of conceptual and measurement variations between the estimation practices of different countries. Statistical agencies are likely to have different source data, estimation methods, and methodological, geographical and definitional differences. More information on trade in goods asymmetries is published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), while analysis on trade in services asymmetries is published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our UK trade Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).