United Kingdom Balance of Trade

Last Release

Jun 30, 2025

Actual

-5,015

Units In

GBP Million

-5,699

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Sep 12, 2025

Time to Release

27 Days 5 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
8,131 Dec 2019	-16,159 Jan 2022	-1,544.87 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 to £5.01 billion in June 2025, up from a downwardly revised £4.55 billion in May, marking the largest deficit since February. Exports fell 2.6% mom to a six-month low of £74.76 billion, while imports shrank 1.9% to a five-month low of £79.78 billion. Goods exports dropped 6.3%, weighed down by a 3.0% drop in shipments to the EU—primarily due to a fall in aircraft exports to Germany. Exports to non-EU countries fell 9.6%, largely driven by a reduction in machinery and transport equipment exports, particularly lower car shipments to the US. Exports of goods to the US, including precious metals, fell by £0.7 billion in June to the lowest level since February 2022. Services exports edged down 0.2% to £46.03 billion. On the import side, goods imports fell 3.5% to a five-month low of £50.89 billion, mainly due to reduced imports of office machinery from the Netherlands and cars from Germany. Meanwhile, services imports rose by 1.0% to £28.88 billion in June.