Responding to the latest ONS data on trade, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the BCC, said:
“The last three months have seen big swings in UK goods exports, with a double-digit fall in sales sandwiched between two double-digit increases.
“Taking the data from June to August, overall, produces a 2.8% increase in value terms over that period. UK services exports continue to offer stability with modest, but steady, month-on-month growth.
“There are reasons for optimism. Yesterday, the World Trade Organisation forecast a gradual recovery in sales of goods and strong growth in services for the second half of this year.
“The forthcoming Budget, Spending Review and Trade Strategy must all focus on providing the conditions to expand trade as a driver of growth for the UK economy.”
The Picture In Detail
Goods
The volume of UK goods exports surged by 10.8% in August to complete a three-month period of two double-digit increases either side of a double-digit dip. Sales to the EU rose by 13.2% and to non-EU countries by 8.4%.
Exports to the EU were led by rises in machinery and transport equipment, with aircraft sales to Germany a major driver. Chemicals exports were also strong, chiefly medicines and pharmaceutical goods to Germany and Belgium.
For non-EU countries, demand was high for manufactured material goods in India, mechanical machinery in China, and chemicals exports in the USA.
Taking the past three months, as a whole, goods exports values rose by 2.8% from the start of June to the end of August.
On UK goods imports, there was a small increase of 0.2% in volume terms in August, with non-EU imports rising by 2.8%. This was driven by fuel import rises from Norway and increased mechanical equipment imports from China. However, this was offset by a fall in EU imports of 2.4% in volume terms, led by lower car imports from Germany and refined oil from Belgium.
Services
Services exports were estimated to have a steady month with growth of 0.2% in August in both value and volume terms. Services imports to the UK increased slightly by 0.5% in value for August.
More detail on the ONS data can be found here.