United Kingdom Balance of Trade

Last Release

Apr 30, 2025

Actual

-7,026

Units In

GBP Million

-3,696

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Jul 11, 2025

Time to Release

26 Days 5 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
8,131 Dec 2019	-16,159 Jan 2022	-1,530.96 GBP Million	1955-2025	Office for National Statistics

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.

Latest Updates

The UK trade deficit widened sharply to £7.03 billion in April 2025 from £3.70 billion in March, marking the largest trade gap since June 2022, as exports fell while imports rose. Exports fell by 3.4% to a four-month low of £73.44 billion, while imports grew by 1.0% to a 32-month high of £80.47 billion. Goods exports shrank by 8.8%, weighed down by a 4.3% drop in shipments to the EU, largely due to reduced fuel exports, particularly a decline in crude oil shipments to the Netherlands and Poland. Exports to non-EU countries plunged 12.6%, mainly driven by lower exports of machinery and transport equipment, especially cars to the US. In contrast, service exports rose 0.4% to £45.08 billion. Meanwhile, goods imports rose 1.2% to £51.57 billion, mainly due to a 1.0% growth in EU imports of machinery and transport equipment. Non-EU imports fell 1.3%, dragged down by a drop in fuel imports, particularly gas from the US and Norway. Additionally, service imports climbed 0.6% to £28.90 billion.