United Kingdom Balance of Trade  1955-2018 | Data | Chart | Calendar

The total UK trade deficit narrowed by GBP 1.28 billion to GBP 1.86 billion in June of 2018 from an upwardly revised GBP 3.14 billion in the previous month. Exports increased 2.7 percent to GBP 52.41 billion and imports rose 0.2 percent to GBP 54.27 billion. Balance of Trade in the United Kingdom averaged -1401.55 GBP Million from 1955 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 2946 GBP Million in March of 1981 and a record low of -5749 GBP Million in October of 2013.

United Kingdom Balance of Trade
width
height
 Preview
Trading Economics members can view, download and compare data from nearly 200 countries, including more than 20 million economic indicators, exchange rates, government bond yields, stock indexes and commodity prices.

The Trading Economics Application Programming Interface (API) provides direct access to our data. It allows API clients to download millions of rows of historical data, to query our real-time economic calendar, subscribe to updates and receive quotes for currencies, commodities, stocks and bonds.

API Features Documentation Interested? Click here to contact us


UK Trade Deficit Narrows in June


The total UK trade deficit narrowed by GBP 1.28 billion to GBP 1.86 billion in June of 2018 from an upwardly revised GBP 3.14 billion in the previous month. Exports increased 2.7 percent to GBP 52.41 billion and imports rose 0.2 percent to GBP 54.27 billion.

Exports of goods and services from the UK jumped 2.7 percent to GBP 52.41 billion in June from GBP 51.04 billion in the previous month, mainly due to higher sales of goods (4.3 percent), namely material manufacturers (7.9 percent), crude materials (5.4 percent), machinery & transport equipment (4.6 percent) and chemicals (3.8 percent). Also, exports of services rose 0.8 percent.

Among major trading partners, exports of goods to the EU went up 1.7 percent, sales increased mainly to Netherlands (10.4 percent), Belgium (7.5 percent) and France (0.9 percent); while there was a decrease in sales to Irish Republic (-3.7 percent), Germany (-1.3 percent) and Italy (-10.4 percent). Also, sales to non-EU countries edged up 6.8 percent, namely to the US (4.8 percent), Canada (2.7 percent) and Japan (27.2 percent). Exports were lower for China (-4.6 percent) and Norway (-8.6 percent).

Imports advanced 0.2 percent to GBP 54.27 billion in June from GBP 54.18 billion in the previous month. The increase was driven by a 0.3 percent in sevices and by 0.1 percent in purchases of goods, mostly machinery & transport equipment (5.8 percent), crude materials (4.9 percent), material manufactures (1.4 percent), miscellaneous manufactures (1.4 percent) and beverage & tobacco (1.1 percent). 

Among trading partners, imports of goods from the EU dropped 1.0 percent, mainly from Belgium (-14.1 percent), Italy (-2.9 percent), Ireland (-0.7 percent) and Spain (-0.4 percent). By contrast, higher purchases were recorded from the Netherlands (3.3 percent), Germany (2.7 percent) and France (2.4 percent). On the other hand, purchases from non-EU countries increased 1.6 percent, as imports rose the most from China (1.4 percent) and the US (0.9 percent); while those from India (-17.8 percent) and Norway (-0.1 percent) declined.

In the three months to June of 2018, the trade deficit widened GBP 4.7 billion to GBP 8.6 billion. This was due to a GBP 5.5 billion widening of the trade in goods deficit, resulting from a combination of falling goods exports (GBP 3.1 billion) and rising goods imports (GBP 2.4 billion). Meantime, services imports narrowed by GBP 0.7 and exports rose by GBP 0.1 billion, resulting in an increased of GDP 0.7 billion in the trade in services surplus .


ONS | Stefanie Moya | stefanie.moya@tradingeconomics.com
8/10/2018 9:51:07 AM


Recent Releases

UK Trade Deficit Narrows in May
The total UK trade deficit narrowed by GBP 0.3 billion to GBP 2.79 billion in May 2018 from a downwardly revised GBP 3.09 billion in the previous month.
Published on 2018-07-10

UK Posts Largest Trade Deficit Since September 2016
The UK's trade deficit widened by GBP 2.1 billion to GBP 5.28 billion in April 2018 from an upwardly revised GBP 3.22 billion in the previous month and above market expectations of a GBP 2.5 billion gap. It was the largest trade deficit since September 2016.
Published on 2018-06-11

UK Posts Largest Trade Deficit in 9 Months
The UK's trade deficit widened by GBP 1.9 billion to GBP 3.091 billion in March 2018 from an upwardly revised GBP 1.176 billion in the previous month and above market expectations of a GBP 2 billion gap. It was the largest trade deficit since last June.
Published on 2018-05-10

UK Trade Deficit Narrows to 5-Month Low
The UK's trade deficit narrowed sharply by GBP 2.0 billion to GBP 0.965 billion in February 2018 from a downwardly revised GBP 2.949 billion in the previous month and below market expectations of a GBP 2.6 billion gap. It was the smallest trade deficit since September.
Published on 2018-04-11



Calendar GMT Actual Previous Consensus TEForecast
2018-06-11 08:30 AM Balance of Trade £-5.28B £-3.22B £-2.5B £-3.6B
2018-07-10 08:30 AM Balance of Trade £-2.79B £-3.087B £-2.2B
2018-08-10 08:30 AM Balance of Trade £-1.861B £-3.141B £-2.5B £ -3B
2018-09-11 08:30 AM Balance of Trade £-2.3B
2018-10-10 08:30 AM Balance of Trade £-1.8B
2018-11-09 09:30 AM Balance of Trade -3000


United Kingdom Trade Last Previous Highest Lowest Unit
Balance of Trade -1861.00 -3141.00 2946.00 -5749.00 GBP Million [+]
Exports 52406.00 51036.00 52952.00 962.00 GBP Million [+]
Imports 54267.00 54177.00 54477.00 1031.00 GBP Million [+]
Current Account -17720.00 -19537.00 2654.00 -32163.00 GBP Million [+]
Current Account to GDP -4.10 -5.80 2.60 -5.80 percent [+]
External Debt 6412914.00 6385526.00 6428718.00 565439.00 GBP Million [+]
Terms of Trade 101.80 101.60 107.60 80.10 Index Points [+]
Capital Flows 3074.00 24382.00 42878.00 -15043.00 GBP Million [+]
Foreign Direct Investment -3896.00 8667.00 82539.00 -44536.00 GBP Million [+]
Gold Reserves 310.30 310.30 588.27 310.25 Tonnes [+]
Crude Oil Production 1023.00 955.00 2821.00 1.00 BBL/D/1K [+]
Terrorism Index 5.10 5.08 5.68 4.19 [+]
Tourism Revenues 1560.00 1790.00 2938.00 126.00 GBP Million [+]
Tourist Arrivals 2590.00 3050.00 4020.00 540.00 Thousand [+]
Weapons Sales 1214.00 1365.00 6069.00 744.00 USD Million [+]

Exports by Country  |   Exports by Category  |   Imports by Country  |   Imports by Category



United Kingdom Balance of Trade

The UK's trade balance has been in deficit since 1998, due to deficits in trade in goods which are partly offset by surpluses in trade in services. The level of total UK trade in goods as a proportion of total trade in goods and services has been gradually declining since 1986 after peaking at 75 percent in 1985. This is consistent with the rising share of UK trade in services (35 percent of total trade in 2017). In 2017, the biggest goods deficits were recorded with Germany, China, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium & Luxembourg and Italy; and the largest surpluses were recorded with the United States, Ireland and South Korea. This page provides - United Kingdom Balance of Trade - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. United Kingdom Balance of Trade - actual data, historical chart and calendar of releases - was last updated on August of 2018.

Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency
-1861.00 -3141.00 2946.00 -5749.00 1955 - 2018 GBP Million Monthly




balance of trade by Country
Country Last
Australia 1873.00 Jun/18
Brazil 4227.00 Jul/18
Canada -625.50 Jun/18
China 280.50 Jul/18
Euro Area 22509.60 Jun/18
France -6248.00 Jun/18
Germany 21792.00 Jun/18
India -18020.00 Jul/18
Indonesia -2030.30 Jul/18
Italy 5071.00 Jun/18
Japan -231.21 Jul/18
Mexico -897.00 Jun/18
Netherlands 4813.00 Jun/18
Russia 15555.00 Jun/18
South Korea 7006.00 Jul/18
Spain -2153628.00 May/18
Switzerland 1308.99 Jun/18
Turkey -5496.69 Jun/18
United Kingdom -1861.00 Jun/18
United States -46348.00 Jun/18


Related
Latest