Cars were the most valuable type of commodity exported from the United Kingdom in 2024, with exports of this commodity valued at approximately 32.9 billion British pounds. Mechanical power generators were the second-most valuable commodity in 2024, with an export value of around 32.7 billion pounds in this year. By comparison, the most valuable import commodity was also cars, amounting to over 38.4 billion British pounds. The next most valuable import commodity was medicinal and pharmaceutical products at over 27.2 million pounds in this year. UK main trading partners Although the share of both imports and exports from the European Union has been declining recently, the single market is still by far the UK's main trading partner. In terms of individual countries, the United States was the main export partner in 2024 at 16.1 percent of all exports, while Germany was the UK's main import partner with 12.5 percent of imports coming from there in 2024. A main argument of the Leave vote, was that the UK should seek to improve up its trade with the rest of the world, outside of Europe. The success of this 'Global Britain' strategy, depends on the UK significantly scaling up its trade with other continents, with countries outside of Europe still responsible for far less trade than European ones. Brexit and EU trade At the start of 2021, the United Kingdom exited both the European Single Market and the European Customs Union, with the UK's trading relationship with the EU now determined by a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). Although the TCA continued tariff and quota-free goods trade between the EU and UK, a number of customs checks came into force, increasing trade friction between the two parties. The status of Northern Ireland in the initial agreement was also different from the rest of the UK. Goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain were initially subject to customs checks, to prevent customs checks occurring at the border with the Republic of Ireland. In February 2023, it was announced that under a new EU-UK agreement called the Windsor Framework, some goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain will be subject to fewer checks.
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Exports in the United Kingdom decreased to 69835 GBP Million in May from 70472 GBP Million in April of 2024. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Exports - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.
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Monthly export country-by-commodity data on the UK's trade in goods, including trade by all countries and selected commodities, non-seasonally adjusted.
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Exports of goods and services represent the value of all goods and other market services provided to the rest of the world. They include the value of merchandise, freight, insurance, transport, travel, royalties, license fees, and other services, such as communication, construction, financial, information, business, personal, and government services. They exclude compensation of employees and investment income (formerly called factor services) and transfer payments. Data are in current U.S. dollars.
The following tables contain EU and non-EU import and export data for January 2025 at chapter level.
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The United States was the leading country for exports from the United Kingdom in 2024, with 16.1 percent of all UK exports going to this market. Germany was the second-largest export market for the UK in this year, followed by the Netherlands, with these countries accounting for 8.8 and 7.7 percent of UK exports respectively. During this year, cars were the most valuable goods commodity exported from the UK, while general business services were the most valuable type of service exported from the UK. UK imports most from Germany Although the United States was the largest export market, Germany was the country from which the UK imported the highest share of goods, with 12.5 percent of the UK’s imports coming from the country in 2024. The United States was the second-largest source of imports for the UK, with ten percent originating from there in 2024, with China a close third at 9.8 percent of UK imports. The main types of trade goods imported from the rest of the world in the UK included cars, oil, and mechanical power generators. The Balance of Trade In the fourth quarter of 2024, the United Kingdom had an overall trade deficit of over 11.5 billion pounds. Although service exports from the UK to the rest of the world amounted to more than 119.9 billion pounds, the UK imported far more goods than it exported, resulting in a goods trade deficit of 55.4 billion pounds, bringing down the overall trade balance. As of 2023, the UK was behind only the U.S. when it came to the overall size of the trade deficit.
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This page displays a table with United Kingdom Exports By Category in U.S. dollars, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.
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Key information about United Kingdom Total Exports
Subscribers can find out export and import data of 23 countries by HS code or product’s name. This demo is helpful for market analysis.
In the year 2022, the value of trade goods exported from the United Kingdom to the United States was around 62.4 billion U.S. dollars, a slight increase from the previous year's value of 59.9 billion U.S. dollars.
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Trade in goods data, including breakdown of imports and exports by Standard Industrial Classification, region (EU and non-EU), business size and by domestic and foreign ownership.
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Experimental dataset providing a breakdown of UK trade in goods by industry, country and commodity on a balance of payments basis. Data are subject to disclosure control.
International trade is one of the most pressing topics on the UK’s Brexit checklist. With no definitive EU deal in immediate sight, it is not just the UK-EU trade that is at stake, but also the continuity of a number of trade agreements with third countries that take effect automatically with EU membership. It is fair to say that this uncertainty surrounding the UK’s international trade will not help the fluctuations experienced in the UK’s goods export as displayed in this statistic.
UK exports in and outside the EU
Since 2008, the UK ships more goods to non-EU countries than EU27. Nevertheless, even with its shrinking share in UK exports, the EU market accounts for the largest proportion of UK trade. This becomes more apparent when we look at the UK’s export trade partners as individual countries.
Trade balance swings
The UK is among the top exporting economies in the world, yet the country’s trade balance seems to be widening. In the first quarter of 2019, the UK’s trade deficit was the largest since 2016. This was down to increasing import activity, as export of trade goods still continued to improve over this period of time.
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United Kingdom Exports to Canada was US$6.82 Billion during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. United Kingdom Exports to Canada - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on March of 2025.
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Graph and download economic data for Trade Prices: Export Prices in the United Kingdom (TVEXPPUKA) from 1772 to 2016 about academic data, exports, United Kingdom, trade, and price.
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United Kingdom UK: Exports: High-Income Economies: % of Total Goods Exports data was reported at 82.868 % in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 81.603 % for 2015. United Kingdom UK: Exports: High-Income Economies: % of Total Goods Exports data is updated yearly, averaging 80.111 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 90.402 % in 1999 and a record low of 65.296 % in 1960. United Kingdom UK: Exports: High-Income Economies: % of Total Goods Exports data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Exports. Merchandise exports to high-income economies are the sum of merchandise exports from the reporting economy to high-income economies according to the World Bank classification of economies. Data are expressed as a percentage of total merchandise exports by the economy. Data are computed only if at least half of the economies in the partner country group had non-missing data.; ; World Bank staff estimates based data from International Monetary Fund's Direction of Trade database.; Weighted average;
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Experimental dataset providing a breakdown of UK trade in services by industry, country and service type on a balance of payments basis. Data are subject to disclosure control.
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Quarterly and annual time series of the value of UK imports and exports of goods grouped by product. Goods are attributed to the activity of which they are the principal products.
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United Kingdom UK: Goods Trade: % of GDP data was reported at 41.528 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 39.457 % for 2016. United Kingdom UK: Goods Trade: % of GDP data is updated yearly, averaging 37.803 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 45.255 % in 1977 and a record low of 29.045 % in 1967. United Kingdom UK: Goods Trade: % of GDP data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Trade Statistics. Merchandise trade as a share of GDP is the sum of merchandise exports and imports divided by the value of GDP, all in current U.S. dollars.; ; World Trade Organization, and World Bank GDP estimates.; Weighted average;
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Monthly value of UK exports and imports of goods and services by current price, chained volume measures and implied deflators.
Cars were the most valuable type of commodity exported from the United Kingdom in 2024, with exports of this commodity valued at approximately 32.9 billion British pounds. Mechanical power generators were the second-most valuable commodity in 2024, with an export value of around 32.7 billion pounds in this year. By comparison, the most valuable import commodity was also cars, amounting to over 38.4 billion British pounds. The next most valuable import commodity was medicinal and pharmaceutical products at over 27.2 million pounds in this year. UK main trading partners Although the share of both imports and exports from the European Union has been declining recently, the single market is still by far the UK's main trading partner. In terms of individual countries, the United States was the main export partner in 2024 at 16.1 percent of all exports, while Germany was the UK's main import partner with 12.5 percent of imports coming from there in 2024. A main argument of the Leave vote, was that the UK should seek to improve up its trade with the rest of the world, outside of Europe. The success of this 'Global Britain' strategy, depends on the UK significantly scaling up its trade with other continents, with countries outside of Europe still responsible for far less trade than European ones. Brexit and EU trade At the start of 2021, the United Kingdom exited both the European Single Market and the European Customs Union, with the UK's trading relationship with the EU now determined by a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). Although the TCA continued tariff and quota-free goods trade between the EU and UK, a number of customs checks came into force, increasing trade friction between the two parties. The status of Northern Ireland in the initial agreement was also different from the rest of the UK. Goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain were initially subject to customs checks, to prevent customs checks occurring at the border with the Republic of Ireland. In February 2023, it was announced that under a new EU-UK agreement called the Windsor Framework, some goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain will be subject to fewer checks.