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.

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.

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.

Monthly import country-by-commodity data on the UK's trade in goods, including trade by all countries and selected commodities, non-seasonally adjusted.

United Kingdom Imports from United States was US$92.69 Billion during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. United Kingdom Imports from United States - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on March of 2025.

This page displays a table with United Kingdom Imports By Category in U.S. dollars, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.

In 2024, China was by far the main trade partner for construction material imports into the United Kingdom. That year, the UK imported nearly 4.2 billion British pounds worth of building materials from China. Germany was an important market both in terms of exports and imports. Lastly, the UK exported to Ireland 1.6 billion British pounds worth of construction materials.

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.

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.

Imports in the United Kingdom decreased to 74729 GBP Million in May from 76895 GBP Million in April of 2024. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Imports - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

United Kingdom Imports from China was US$99.22 Billion during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. United Kingdom Imports from China - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on March of 2025.

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.

Exporters and importers of goods and services in Great Britain by region.

India Exports to United Kingdom was US$12.48 Billion during 2023, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. India Exports to United Kingdom - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on March of 2025.

In 2021, the main goods commodity the United Kingdom (UK) exported to European Union (EU) countries was machinery and transport equipment, including vehicles, cars, railway vehicles, and aircrafts among others. The UK imported more machinery and transport equipment from the EU than it exported to the EU in the same year, resulting in a trade deficit in this category.

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, which means some data have been suppressed to protect confidentiality of individual traders.

Users should note the following:
Industry data has been produced using Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC07).

Service type data has been produced using Extended Balance of Payments (EBOPs).
Due to risks around disclosing data releated to individual firms we are only able to provide data for certain combinations of the dimensions included, i.e. country, service type and industry. This dataset therefore provides the following two combinations:
Industry (SIC07 2 digit), by service type (EBOPs 1 digit), by geographic region (world total, EU and non-EU) Industry (SIC07 2 digit), by total service type, by individual country Some data cells have been suppressed to protect confidentiality so that individual traders cannot be identified.

Data All data is in £ million, current prices

Rounding Some of the totals within this release (e.g. EU, Non EU and world total) may not exactly match data published via other trade releases due to small rounding differences.

Trade Asymmetries 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 (https://comtrade.un.org/)

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.

United Kingdom Imports from France was US$39.11 Billion during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. United Kingdom Imports from France - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on March of 2025.

United Kingdom Imports from Nepal was US$21.56 Million during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. United Kingdom Imports from Nepal - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on March of 2025.

Estimated value of exports, imports and balance of trade from 2016 to 2022 for total trade, trade in goods and trade in services for International Territorial Levels (ITLs) 1, 2 and 3, and city regions. Includes EU and non-EU split along with data for top 20 partner countries. These are official statistics in development.