BRIEFING PAPER
Number 7593, 24 May 2016
Geographical pattern of
UK trade
By Aliyah Dar and
Dominic Webb
Inside:
1. Introduction
2. Overview
3. UK trade with particular
trading partners
www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibrary
Number 7593, 24 May 2016
Contents
Summary
3
1.
Introduction
4
2.
Overview
5
3.
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
UK trade with particular trading partners
Top 25 trading partners
EU
China, India and the US
Trade with the Commonwealth
Cover page image copyright: Felixstowe by Richard Clark (Digimist). Licensed under
CC BY 2.0/ image cropped
7
7
8
11
12
2
3
Geographical pattern of UK trade
Summary
This note looks at the UK’s main trading partners over the last 10-15 years.
The EU as a bloc is the UK’s largest trading partner. In 2015, it accounted for 44% of UK
exports of goods and services and 53% of the UK’s imports. The EU’s share of UK exports
has been falling in recent years: in 1999, the EU’s share was nearly 55%.
Looking at individual countries, the US is the UK’s largest trading partner. The UK
exported £84 billion of goods and services to the US in 2015, 16% of the total. This was
nearly twice as much as exports to Germany, the second largest export market (£45
billion). 10 of the UK’s top 25 export markets in 2014 were EU member states. 13 of the
top 25 countries from which the UK imports were EU member states.
Trade with China has expanded rapidly in recent years. China now accounts for over 7%
of UK imports compared with 1.5% in 1999. It is the third largest source of UK imports.
The UK exported nearly £16 billion to China in 2015 making it the seventh largest export
market for the UK. Trade with India has also increased. India’s share of UK imports has
doubled from 0.9% to 1.8% since 1999. India now accounts for 1.3% of UK exports,
compared with 0.9% in 1999.
The Commonwealth accounts for around 10% of UK trade. This proportion has remained
reasonably stable over the last decade. The UK’s largest trading partners among the
Commonwealth countries are India, Australia, Canada, Singapore and South Africa.
Number 7593, 24 May 2016
1. Introduction
In 2015, total UK exports were £511 billion and total imports were
£548 billion. The UK had a trade deficit of £37 billion.
Total trade can be broken down into goods and services. The UK has a
trade deficit in goods but a surplus on trade in services. UK exports of
goods were £286 billion and goods imports were £411 billion in 2015.
The UK’s deficit on trade in goods was £125 billion. UK exports of
services were £226 billion in 2015. Imports of services were £137 billion
giving a surplus of £89 billion. 1
UK trade, 2015
£ billion
Exports
Imports
Balance
Goods
285.5
410.9
-125.4
Services
226.0
137.3
+88.7
Total
511.5
548.2
-36.7
Source: ONS, UK Trade, 10 May 2016, Table 1
UK exports and imports
£ billion, 2015
600
Exports
500
Imports
Balance
400
300
200
100
0
-100
-200
Goods
Services
Total
Source: ONS
1
ONS, UK Trade March 2016, 10 May 2016, Table 1
4
5
Geographical pattern of UK trade
2. Overview
The chart below shows the overall pattern of UK trade in 2014. The EU
is the largest trading partner accounting for 44% of UK exports of
goods and services and 53% of imports. The rest of Europe accounts for
around 10% of both exports and imports. Asia accounts for around
20% of UK imports and exports. The Americas accounted for 21% of
UK exports in 2014 and 13% of imports.
UK trade by region
Goods and services, £ billion, 2014
350
300
Exports
Imports
250
200
150
100
50
0
EU
Other
Europe
Americas
Asia
Africa
Australasia
Source: ONS
The table below shows more detail on trade with individual trading
partners. Trade with the EU, US, China, India and the Commonwealth is
discussed in more depth in the following sections.
Number 7593, 24 May 2016
6
UK trade in goods and services by trading partner, 2014
Exports
£ billion % of total exports
Imports
£ billion % of total imports
Balance
£ billion
Europe
EU
228.9
44.4%
290.6
52.9%
-61.7
EFTA
Iceland
Liechtenstein
Norway
Switzerland
Total EFTA
0.3
0.1
6.8
22.9
30.0
0.1%
0.0%
1.3%
4.4%
5.8%
0.5
0.0
21.0
11.1
32.6
0.1%
0.0%
3.8%
2.0%
5.9%
-0.2
0.0
-14.2
11.8
-2.6
Other Europe
26.1
5.1%
23.9
4.4%
2.2
285.0
55.3%
347.2
63.2%
-62.2
6.4
88.0
1.2%
17.1%
8.9
51.6
1.6%
9.4%
-2.5
36.4
108.1
21.0%
71.1
12.9%
37.0
18.7
8.6
8.8
10.1
5.6
7.4
3.6%
1.7%
1.7%
2.0%
1.1%
1.4%
38.3
9.1
10.3
9.9
5.2
3.6
7.0%
1.7%
1.9%
1.8%
0.9%
0.6%
-19.6
-0.5
-1.5
0.2
0.4
3.8
96.0
18.6%
108.2
19.7%
-12.2
8.3
1.6%
4.0
0.7%
4.3
9.5
1.8%
5.2
1.0%
4.3
Total Africa
16.5
3.2%
18.0
3.3%
-1.5
World total
515.2
100.0%
549.7
100.0%
-34.5
Total Europe
Americas
Canada
United States of America
Total Americas
Asia
China
Hong Kong
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea
Total Asia
Australasia & Oceania
Australia
Total Australasia & Oceani
Source: ONS Pink Book 2015, Table 9.3
7
Geographical pattern of UK trade
3. UK trade with particular
trading partners
3.1 Top 25 trading partners
The UK’s top 25 trading partners in 2014 are shown in the two tables
below. The US is by some way the UK’s largest export market if
attention is limited to individual countries, rather than trading blocs like
the EU. Exports to the US were £84 billion in 2014, 16% of the total.
Germany was the second largest export market in 2014 at £45 billion.
Ten of the top 25 export markets are in the EU. 2
Top 25 UK export markets
Goods and services 2014
£ billion
% of exports
United States
84.0
16.4%
Germany
44.9
8.7%
Netherlands
36.0
7.0%
France
30.9
6.0%
Ireland
26.9
5.2%
Switzerland
21.6
4.2%
China
18.8
3.7%
Italy
16.4
3.2%
Belgium
15.1
2.9%
Spain
14.8
2.9%
Japan
9.5
1.9%
Sweden
9.1
1.8%
India
8.6
1.7%
United Arab Emirates
8.5
1.7%
Hong Kong, China
8.5
1.7%
Australia
8.5
1.7%
Korea, Republic of
7.3
1.4%
Norway
6.9
1.3%
Russian Federation
6.8
1.3%
Canada
6.4
1.2%
Singapore
6.1
1.2%
Denmark
6.0
1.2%
Saudi Arabia
5.6
1.1%
Poland
5.5
1.1%
Turkey
4.8
0.9%
Source: ONS
2
These figures are based on an ad hoc release of data by the ONS, available here.
These are slightly different to the Pink Book data used in the table in Section 2
above.
Number 7593, 24 May 2016
Germany was the largest source of UK imports in 2014. The UK
imported £70 billion from Germany, nearly 13% of all UK imports. The
US was the second largest source of imports at £52 billion and China
third at £38 billion. 13 of the top 25 import markets were in the EU in
2014.
Top 25 UK imports markets
Goods and services 2014
£ billion
% of imports
Germany
69.8
12.7%
United States
52.2
9.5%
China
38.1
6.9%
Netherlands
37.7
6.9%
France
36.8
6.7%
Spain
24.0
4.4%
Belgium
23.1
4.2%
Italy
21.3
3.9%
Norway
19.6
3.6%
Ireland
17.1
3.1%
Switzerland
11.3
2.1%
India
10.3
1.9%
Sweden
10.0
1.8%
Japan
9.9
1.8%
Poland
9.5
1.7%
Hong Kong, China
9.3
1.7%
Canada
8.8
1.6%
Turkey
7.9
1.4%
Russian Federation
7.0
1.3%
Denmark
6.0
1.1%
Czech Republic
5.2
1.0%
Singapore
5.2
0.9%
Portugal
4.3
0.8%
Australia
4.2
0.8%
Austria
4.1
0.7%
Source: ONS
3.2 EU
In 2015, the UK exported £223 billion of goods and services to other EU
member states. This is equivalent to 43.7% of total UK exports. Goods
and services imports from the EU were worth £291 billion (53.1% of
the total) in 2015. The UK had a trade deficit of £68 billion with the EU
in 2015 but a surplus of £31 billion with non-EU countries. 3
3
ONS Statistical Bulletin, Balance of Payments: Oct to Dec and annual 2015, 31
March 2016, Tables B and C
8
9
Geographical pattern of UK trade
UK trade with EU and non-EU countries
£ billion, 2015, Goods and services
300
Exports
250
200
Imports
150
Balance
100
50
0
EU
Non-EU
-50
-100
Source: ONS
UK trade with EU and non-EU countries 2015
Goods and services
Exports
£ billion
Imports
%
£ billion
Balance
%
£ billion
EU
223
44%
291
53%
-68
Non-EU
288
56%
257
47%
+31
Total
512
100%
548
100%
-37
Source:
ONS Balance of Payments Statistical Bulletin, 31 Mar 2016, Tables B & C
The share of UK exports accounted for by the EU fell from 55% in 2002
to 44% in 2015. The EU accounted for 58% of UK imports in 2002.
This fell to 51% in 2011 but increased again to 53% in 2015. 4
Share of UK trade with EU (%)
Goods and services (Quarterly data)
70%
60%
Imports
50%
40%
Exports
30%
20%
10%
0%
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
Source: ONS
4
These figures are for the EU28
Number 7593, 24 May 2016 10
The table below shows UK trade with each of the other 27 EU member
states in 2014. The UK had a trade deficit with 18 of these countries, a
surplus with 5 and was broadly in balance with 4. 5
UK trade with EU member states
Goods and services, £ billion, 2014
Exports
Imports
Balance
2.4
4.1
-1.7
Belgium
15.1
23.1
-8.0
Bulgaria
0.8
0.7
0.1
Croatia
0.4
0.4
0.0
Cyprus
1.2
1.1
0.0
Czech Republic
2.7
5.2
-2.5
Denmark
6.0
6.0
0.0
Estonia
0.3
0.2
0.1
Finland
3.0
3.1
-0.1
France
30.9
36.8
-6.0
Germany
44.9
69.8
-24.9
Greece
2.3
2.9
-0.6
Hungary
1.8
3.1
-1.2
Ireland
26.9
17.1
9.8
Italy
16.4
21.3
-4.9
Latvia
0.4
0.5
-0.1
Lithuania
0.5
1.2
-0.8
Luxembourg
3.0
2.2
0.9
Malta
0.9
0.5
0.4
Austria
36.0
37.7
-1.7
Poland
Netherlands
5.5
9.5
-3.9
Portugal
2.5
4.3
-1.7
Romania
1.4
1.8
-0.5
Slovakia
0.6
2.2
-1.6
Slovenia
0.3
0.4
0.0
14.8
24.0
-9.2
9.1
10.0
-0.8
Spain
Sweden
Source:
ONS
The figures in this note do not take the “Rotterdam effect” into
account. This is the argument that estimates of trade with the EU may
be inflated if trade recorded as being with the Netherlands is actually
with non-EU countries. There are no official estimates of the size of the
Rotterdam effect but even taking it into account, the EU remains the
UK’s largest trading partner by some distance. 6
5
6
The figures for the individual member states are taken from data published by the
ONS in response to an ad hoc data request (details here) rather than from the Pink
Book.
The Rotterdam effect is discussed in more detail in House of Commons Library
Briefing Paper 6091, In brief: UK-EU economic relations.
11 Geographical pattern of UK trade
3.3 China, India and the US
Trade with China has expanded rapidly over recent years. UK exports to
China were nearly £16 billion in 2015. This was a fall compared with
2014 when UK exports to China were nearly £19 billion. In 2015, China
accounted for over 3% of UK exports, compared with less than 1% in
1999. In 2014, China was the seventh largest UK export market.
Imports from China have increased even more rapidly, reaching £39
billion in 2015. China now accounts for over 7% of UK imports,
compared with 1.5% in 1999. China was the third largest source of UK
imports in 2014.
China's share of UK trade (%)
8%
Imports
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
Exports
2%
1%
0%
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
Source: ONS
Trade with India has also increased, although less rapidly than with
China. The UK exported £6.6 billion to India in 2015 and imported £10
billion. India accounted for 1.3% of UK exports in 2015 up from 0.9%
in 1999. India accounted for 1.8% of UK imports in 2015 up from
0.9% in 1999. India was the 13th largest UK export market in 2014 and
the 12th largest source of UK imports.
India's share of UK trade
2.5%
Imports
2.0%
1.5%
Exports
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
Source: ONS
2015
Number 7593, 24 May 2016 12
The US is the UK’s largest single trading partner. In 2015 the UK
exported £95 billion to the US, accounting for 19% of UK exports. The
US is also the second largest source of UK imports, behind Germany. In
2015, UK imports from the US were £60 billion, around 11% of the
total. The US’s share of UK’s exports has been relatively stable over the
last 15 years fluctuating between 16% and 19%. The US accounted for
9% to 11% of UK imports over the last decade, down from 14% in
1999.
US's share of UK trade
20%
Exports
15%
10%
Imports
5%
0%
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
Source: ONS
3.4 Trade with the Commonwealth
There are 52 members of the Commonwealth besides the UK. These
vary greatly in size from G20 economies such as Australia, Canada, India
and South Africa to very small economies such as Tuvalu, Vanuatu and
Nauru. 7
The tables below show the UK’s 10 largest Commonwealth trading
partners for both exports and imports. India, Australia, Canada,
Singapore and South Africa are the largest trading partners for both
exports and imports. 8
7
8
A list of the members of the Commonwealth is here.
These tables are based on the ONS ad hoc data release on trade with the
Commonwealth, available here.
13 Geographical pattern of UK trade
Top 10 Commonwealth export markets for UK
Goods and services, 2014
£ billion
% UK exports
India
8.8
1.7%
Australia
8.3
1.6%
Canada
6.4
1.2%
Singapore
5.6
1.1%
South Africa
4.2
0.8%
Malaysia
2.5
0.5%
Nigeria
2.4
0.5%
Malta
1.8
0.3%
Pakistan
1.1
0.2%
Cyprus
1.1
0.2%
Source: ONS
Top 10 Commonwealth sources of imports for UK
Goods and services, 2014
India
£ billion
% UK imports
10.3
1.9%
Canada
8.9
1.6%
Singapore
5.2
0.9%
Australia
4.0
0.7%
South Africa
3.6
0.7%
Nigeria
2.7
0.5%
Malaysia
2.1
0.4%
Bangladesh
1.6
0.3%
Pakistan
1.5
0.3%
Sri Lanka
1.2
0.2%
Source: ONS
UK exports to the Commonwealth as a whole were £48 billion in 2014,
around 9% of the UK total. Imports from the Commonwealth were £47
billion (also around 9% of the total). The share of UK trade accounted
for by the Commonwealth has been broadly constant over the last 10
years fluctuating around 10%.
Number 7593, 24 May 2016 14
Commonwealth share of UK trade (%)
12%
10%
8%
Exports
Imports
6%
4%
2%
0%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Source: ONS
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