UK Trade Deficit Cut By £0.2bn.

The seasonally adjusted trade deficit in goods and services was cut by £0.2bn from £3.1bn in October to £2.9bn in November. The deficit on trade in goods was £6.8bn compared with £7bn and the surplus on services was unchanged at £3.9bn. The volume of exports excluding oil and erratics was 0.2% up but the volume of imports was down 0.9% in November. Export prices fell 0.4% and import prices fell by 0.6% on October.

In terms of value, total exports were unchanged at £20.2bn though total imports fell by £0.2bn to £27bn. Exports of cars fell by £26m while imports of cars increased by £96m, but exports of consumer goods other than cars increased by £131m and imports of consumer goods other than cars fell by £227m. Exports of chemicals increased by £96m and imports fell by £138m on November compared with October 2009.

In the three months ended November 2009 the trade deficit in goods increased by £1.6bn to £20.7bn compared with a deficit of £19.2bn in the previous three months to August. Total exports rose to £59.8bn from £55.7bn and total imports rose to £80.6bn. Exports of chemicals increased by £713m and imports by £1,485m. Intermediate goods exports increased by £612m and imports by £974m. Exports of cars increased by £609m and imports by £1,086m.

In terms of volume, in November 2009 compared with October 2009, exports increased by 0.2% and imports decreased by 0.9% compared with October. Food, drink and tobacco exports increased by 2.7% and imports fell by 0.9%, basic materials exports fell by 8.8% and imports by 6%. Semi-manufactured goods increased by 0.9% and imports fell by 1.9% of which chemicals exports went up by 3.3% and imports fell by 4.1%. There was no change in the volume of finished manufactured goods overall but within the classification the volume of exports of consumer goods went up by 9.6% and imports fell by 4.5%, intermediate goods went up by 1.1% and imports by 2.4%.

In the three months ending in November, the volume of exports of goods rose by 5.5% and the volume of imports rose by 6.9% compared with the previous three months to August. The volume of exports of basic materials increased by 10% and imports by 9.2%. Finished manufactured goods volumes totalled a 5.8% increase in exports and 7.1% increase in imports of which exports of cars increased by 16.2% and imports by 25.5%, intermediate goods export volumes increased by 5.7% and imports by 7.6% and capital goods export volumes increased by 6.6% and imports by 5.1%.

Export prices fell by 0.4% and import prices by 0.6% in November compared with October leading to an increase in the terms of trade. Export prices, excluding the oil price effect, fell by 0.8% and import prices by 1%. In the three months to November export prices rose by 2.7% and import prices by 2.3% on the previous quarter likewise leading to an increase in the terms of trade. Export prices, excluding the oil price effect, rose by 2.2% and import prices by 1.8%.

Trade in services remained unchanged in November with a surplus of £3.9bn. Exports rose by £0.2bn and imports by £0.2bn. Total exports were unchanged at £38.8bn although imports rose slightly by £0.1bn to £27.2bn.