Details of UK trade in 2023, recently released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show that services export volumes exceeded goods exports volumes by £62 billion over the year.
Goods exports fell by 0.5% in December with a 3.2% fall in exports to the EU being partially offset by a rise in rest of the world exports by 2.1%.
Available here, the latest trade bulletin notes that, over the year, total exports rose by £36.8 billion (4.6%), which meant that the total annual trade balance narrowed by £36.7 billion to a deficit of £53.0 billion.
The trade in goods deficit widened by £1.4 billion to £49.9 billion in Quarter 4 (Q4) 2023, while the trade in services surplus is estimated to have narrowed by £4.8 billion to £34.9 billion.
Responding to the latest data, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: “The UK had another good year for services exports in 2023, showing the strength of that side of our economy. But there will be concern about the drop in goods exports. Further measures are needed to address this; more must be done to connect exporters and would-be exporters with customers in markets across Europe and the rest of the world.”
The BCC has called on the Government to set up an Exports Council which could work with business to build upon the relative strength in services exports across even more sectors, while providing fresh impetus to improve overseas sales of goods.
