UK Trade Deficit £3.6bn

The trade deficit in goods and services grew to £3.6bn in February from £2.5bn in January. There was a deficit of £9.4bn on goods and a surplus of £5.8bn on services.

The value of exports fell by 1.1% over the month between January and February 2013 and the value of imports increased by 1.7% over the same period. Exports to non-EU countries fell by 4.7%. Exports to the US which makes up part of that decrease fell by £329m.

The figures reflect a fall in non-ferrous metals exports and a fall in the export of pharmaceuticals and a rise in the import of pharmaceuticals and an increase in the import of motor vehicles. Export prices rose by 1.8% and import prices rose by 1.6%.

Current Account Deficit Reduced To £2bn

The ONS recently published the latest balance of payments data for the UK. The current account deficit in Q2 2011 was £2bn down from £4.1bn in Q1. The total trade deficit increased from £5.8bn in Q1 to £6.8bn in Q2 2011. The UK recorded net international investment liabilities of £115bn.

The capital account showed a surplus of £1bn, up £0.3bn from Q1. The current transfers deficit decreased to £4.8bn, a fall of £0.9bn, due mainly to lower payments by the government. Payments to EU contributions can be erratic.

The trade in goods deficit increased to £24.6bn in Q2 2011 from £22.8bn in Q1. Exports fell by £1.2bn while imports increased by £0.6bn to a record £98.4bn. Trade in services also saw a new record in Q2. The surplus on trade in services grew to £17.8bn. Exports grew by £1.5bn to another record £46.1bn.

There was a net outflow of £9bn compared with a net outflow of £3.5bn in the previous quarter. Overseas investment fell to £42.7bn from £160.1bn and investment flowing into the UK in Q2 was £33.8bn down from £156.6bn in Q1.

Euro External Deficit Cut To 37.1bn

The EU27 had an external current account deficit of 37.1bn euro in Q2 2010 from 42.1bn euro in Q2 2009 and 31.8bn euro in Q1 2010. The trade in service balance was 19.3bn euro and the balance was -1.2% of GDP. In the euro area (EA16) the deficit was 23.1bn euro the balance of trade in services was 11.9bn euro and the balance as a percentage of GDP was 1%.

Trade Deficit Of £4.9bn In July

The total trade balance for the UK in July showed a deficit of £4.9bn compared with £3.9bn in June. Trade in goods deficit was £8.7bn and the trade in services surplus was £3.8bn compared with £7.5bn and £3.6bn in June respectively.

The volume of exports was 0.3% lower and the volume of imports was 2.5% higher in July compared with June of this year (excluding oil and erratic items).

The deficit of £8.7bn in trade in goods was shared between the EU with a defeicit of £3.9bn and the rest of the world with a deficit of £4.8bn.

First Annual Figures For UK Trade 2009

The UK Trade deficit in goods and services in December 2009 was £3.3bn and in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2009 the deficit was £9.5bn. In November the figures were £2.9bn and £8.1bn respectively. In December 2008 it was £2bn.

The total balance of trade in goods and services with the world was a deficit of £7.3bn. The geographical pattern was that trade with the EU produced a deficit of £3.7bn and non-EU trade left a deficit of £3.6bn. The balance of trade in services left a surplus of £4bn. EU trade increased slightly and then remained the same over the last three months whereas non-EU trade decreased then increased again in December. The trend of growth in services has continued.

The first annual data for the whole of 2009 show that the trade deficit in goods and services narrowed by £4.4bn to £33.8bn in 2009. In 2008 it was £38.2bn. Trade in services, which is also included in the overall figure, in contrast, reported a surplus of £48.1bn in 2009. The surplus in trade in services decreased from a surplus of £55.1bn in 2008.

The deficit with EU countries narrowed by £2.5bn to £37bn in 2009 from £39.5bn in 2008. The non-EU deficit narrowed from £53.9bn in 2008 to December4.9bn in 2009, a difference of £9bn. The UKs most significant export trading partner outside the EU was the USA (£33.8bn) followed by Germany (£24.4bn). On imports it was the other way around. We imported more from Germany (£39.7bn) than anywhere else with USA second (£24.6bn).

There was a deficit in value on trade in goods of £7.3bn. Exports rose by £0.9bn, imports rose by £1.4bn. There were no great changes in the level of exports to any country over £0.2bn.

In terms of imports and exports, the volume of exports increased by 1%, imports by 4.5% in December. In Q4, the volume of exports increased by 5.8% and imports 7.2%. The price of exports increased by 0.1% and import 0.3% in December compared with November leading to a decrease in terms of trade. Over the quarter, export prices increased by 2% and import prices by 2.1%, leaving the terms of trade unchanged.