Trade Deficit Down To £1.3bn In March

Trade activity in March 2014 reported a deficit of £ 1.3bn compared with February's deficit of £1.7bn. The figure of £1.3bn is a result of a deficit of £8.5bn in trade in goods and a surplus of £7.2bn in trade in services.

Exports increased by 4.9% and imports by 2.8% between February and March 2014. The increase in exports to £24.6bn was due to increases in the export of finished manufactures, jewellery and cars. The increase in imports to £33.1bn was mainly due to an increase in the import of aircraft.

The quarterly comparison for Q1 2014 shows a decrease of 3.7% to £72bn in the export of goods and of 2.8% to £98.7bn in imports.

Trade Deficit Narrowed To £1.6bn In October

The seasonally adjusted trade in goods and services deficit was £1.6bn in October down from £4.3bn in September according to the ONS. It is the smallest deficit since April.

The deficit on trade in goods amounted to £7.6bn and the surplus on trade in services amounted £6bn. Exports rose to a record £26.5bn and imports fell from the record £34.6bn in September to £34.1bn in October. Both import and export prices fell in October by 0.6% and 0.4% respectively.

There was a £2.1bn increase in exports of goods to both EU (£13.9bn) and non-EU (£12.6bn) countries.

The biggest changes in key commodity value between September and October were in exports of chemicals (+£596m) and capital goods (+£327) and imports of oil (+£276m). Consumer goods other than cars had the biggest downward change (-£246).

Inflation Unchanged From August

Headline inflation remained at 3.1% in September as it was in August though there were significant changes within the index that put pressure on it between August and September.

Falling air fares and second-hand car prices put most downward pressure on inflation with the main upward pressures counteracting it being record price increases for August in clothing and footwear and food and non-alcoholic beverages where prices also rose slightly. Furniture, household equipment and maintenace also increased by 1.7%.

Inflation Falls To 3.1%

CPI annual inflation fell last month to 3.1% from 3.2% in June. Second-hand cars and fuel were the main downward factors between June and July but as in June there were downward contributions from clothing and footwear and additionally from recreation and culture. Upward pressure came from food and non-alcoholic beverages and furniture and household goods. The index stood at 114.3 down from 114.6 in May (2005=100).

Accessibility Of Key Services

The Department for Transport has released statistics covering the core accessibility indicators for 2009. The measures show the accessibility of 8 key services to the population that uses them. The 8 key indicators are food stores, primary and secondary schools, further education, GPs and hospitals, town centres and employment centres. They give estimations of the proportion of the population that can access them within reasonable time limits by public transport/walking, cycle and car. The indicators take three forms: destination, travel time and origin.

The key findings are given at national and regional level. At the national level, on destination indicators which look at the proportion of the local population with access to the services, the highest proportion of the population able to access key services by public transport/walking in a reasonable time was 83% for employment centres and the lowest was for hospitals at 34%. Cars give highest level of overall access to all services at 76% and cycle the lowest at 50%, public transport/walking gave 57% but also gave the widest variation from 34% for hospitals to 83% for employment centres.

There are variations in accessibility to services in urban and rural areas. The greatest variations were for hospitals and town centres with a 16% difference between urban and rural areas. The least was for primary schools with only a 3% difference. In urban areas 60% of the population could easily access the 8 key services by public transport or walking but in rural areas it was only 48%.

In terms of travel time indicators the average time to travel to all key services was 5 minutes by car, 15 minutes by public transport/walking and 17 minutes by cycle. The average minimum time to travel to the nearest service by public transport/walking was lowest for primary schools and food stores at 9 minutes and highest for hospitals at an average of 30 minutes. By cycling the average time was lowest for primary schools at 5 minutes and highest for hospitals at 52 minutes. By car the average minumum time for all services was 5 minutes.

The survey also loooked at the choice of key services available to local populations. These are called the origin indicators. Thirty per cent of local communities (LSOA level) had access to more than one hospital by public transport or walking and 25% had access to more than one town centre. Over 90% had access by public transport or walking to employment centres of over 5,000 jobs within reasonable time.

At the regional level, there was little difference in access to services between Government Office regions with the exception of London. Overall access to the 8 key services by all modes was greatest in London with 64% for public transport/walking, 59% cycling and 77% by car and the East of England was lowest by public transport/walking with 54% and by cycling with 46%. Access by car was similar in all regions at 75-78%. The lowest average minimum travel time by public transport/walking was in London at 10 minutes and highest in the South West at 21 minutes and 15 minutes nationally. Cycling lowest travel time was in London at 6 minutes and highest in the East of England at 26 minutes and 17 minutes nationally. By car the average minumum travel time was 6-7 minutes in all regions. The greatest level of choice of services was in London the lowest in the South West, East of England and the East Midlands.

Deficit In Trade In April Up £0.1bn

The UK still has a deficit on trade in goods and services. In April the deficit was £3.3bn compared with £3.2bn in March. The deficit on trade in goods was £7.3bn but services still reported a surplus of £4bn compared with £4.1bn in March. Total exports of services fell by £0.1bn to £13.4bn and imports of services fell to £9.4bn.

Comparing April with March 2010 the main contributors to the difference were an increase of £171m from the export of cars, £130m from the export of chemicals and £125m from the export of consumer goods. There were decreases of £194m in intermediate goods and £201m in the export of aircraft. Sectors that made a significant difference on the import side were ships with an increase in value of £225m and £249m from the import of oil. Offsetting these were a decrease in the import semi-manufactured goods (other than chemicals) to the value of £392m and a decrease to the value of £159m from the import of consumer goods (other than cars).

The deficit on trade in goods with the EU increased slightly in April by £0.1bn to £3.3bn . Over the three months to April the deficit was £1.2bn smaller at £9.4bn. EU exports increased by £1.3bn to £34.4bn and EU imports by £0.1bn to £43.9bn.

As export prices fell by 0.2% and import prices increased by 0.2% in April compared with March, there was a decrease in the terms of trade. If oil is excluded, export prices fell by 1% and import prices fell by 0.2%. Over the quarter, there was a decrease in the terms of trade as export prices increased by 3.3% and import prices increased by 3.6%. Expoprt prices increased by 2.5% and import prices by 2.8% if the oil price effect is excluded. The balance of trade in oil in April was a deficit of £0.4bn. Oil exports were £2.7bn and imports £3.1bn. Over the quarter the balance of trade in oil was in deficit by £0.7bn. There was an increase in value of £0.6bn in exports to £7.9bn and an increase of £0.7bn in imports to £8.6bn.

Trade Deficit

The trade deficit in March was £3.7bn compared with £2.2bn in February. On a quarterly basis the trade deficit for the first quarter (Q1) was £9.7bn compared with £8.7bn for Q4 2009. The trade surplus in services was valued at £3.8bn the trade deficit in goods was £7.5bn in March 2010 compared with £4.1bn and £6.3bn respectively in February.

In terms of changes in commodity value in March oil exports increased by £198m and exports of intermediate goods by £133m, chemicals imports decreased by £314m in value. The value of imports of intermediate goods increased by £268m and cars by £211m. All categories reported an increase in the value of imports during March. The change in the value exports of oil for the quarter was an increase of £511m. The value of consumer goods exports increased £372m. Exports of cars decreased in value by £236m and chemicals by £206m.

Geographical analyses show that within the G7 exports to the US fell by £0.5bn and imports from Germany increased in value by £0.3bn. Imports from Norway fell by £0.2bn during March compared with February. There were no significant changes in exports or imports within the G7 during the quarter but imports from Switzerland increased by £1.1bn, from Norway by £0.6bn and China by £0.5bn.

The volume of exports fell by 1.8% but imports increased by 3.5% with imports of basic materials up 6.5% and exports up 9%. Imports of cars went up 14.9% but exports fell by 5.2% in March. Over the quarter imports of basic materials increased 12.5% but exports fell 0.5%, imports of semi-manufactured goods increased by 13.2% but exports fell by 1.2%. Exports of consumer goods increased by 7.9%.

There was an increase in the terms of trade in March as exports prices rose by 2.9% and import prices rose by 2.7%. Over the quarter the terms of trade increased because export prices rose by 2.7% and import prices rose by 2.4%.

Services Surplus Narrower In February

The seasonally adjusted trade deficit narrowed significantly during February 2010. The deficit on trade in goods and services fell from £3.9bn in January to £2.1bn in February. Trade in goods was £6.2bn in February compared with £8.1bn in January but the surplus on trade in services was £4.1bn in February from £4.2bn in January.

Exports increased by 6.3% but imports fell 1.4%. The prices of exports went up 0.5% and imports went up 0.3% compared with January. Total exports in goods increased 9.5% or £1.8bn to £21.3bn. Total imports of goods fell to £27.5bn. The single biggest contributor to the change in exports was chemicals with an increase of £629m. Oil was the second biggest with exports increasing by £370m and imports increasing by £205m.

An analysis of trade with EU countries shows that the deficit on trade in goods with EU countries narrowed by £0.6bn to £2.8bn in February 2010 compared with a deficit of £3.4bn in January. EU exports increased to £11.5bn and imports to £14.4bn.

The biggest export commodity traded with the EU was oil which increased in value by £751m over the quarter to February. There were large increases in value in imports of cars (£274m), fuels other than oil (£438m), capital goods (£108m) and intermediate goods (£176m). Imports of chemicals fell £279m over the quarter.

More geographical analysis shows that within the G7 group of countries export trade with the US increased by £0.5bn and with Germany by £0.2bn between January and February 2010. Import trade increased with Norway by £0.3bn but decreased with South Africa by £0.2bn.

The change in the volume of exports excluding oil and erratics increased by 6.3% but the volume of imports fell by 1.4% between January and February 2010. At the commodity level the biggest changes were in basic materials where exports increased by 42.7% and chemicals which increased by 15.2%. Over the quarter the biggest changes were in the export of cars which increased by 10.9% and the import of semi-manufactured goods (other than chemicals) which increased by 10%.

Export prices rose by 0.5% in February and import prices by 0.3%. The terms of trade therefore increased. If the oil price effect is left out export prices rose by 0.7% and import prices by 0.5%. Over the quarter export prices rose by 1.6% and import prices by 1.2%. Again that means an increase in the terms of trade.

The surplus on trade in services narrowed to £4.1bn compared with £4.2bn in January. Exports fell by 1.4% to £13.1bn and imports by 7.7% to £8.9bn.

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.

Car Market Up Over 57% In November

New car registrations were up 57.6% on a weak 2008 number to 158,082 units according to the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Year on year figures are down 8.8% at 1,844,063 units but will increase before the year end to over 1.975 million units. The scrappage scheme accounts for much of the recent success. The Scrappage Incentive Scheme accounted for 21.6% of all new car registrations in November. Business, fleet and private sales increased in November with private sales up 141.2%. November 2008 figues showed a particularly sharp decline. The best selling models were the Ford Fiesta, as it has been for 9 months this year, the Focus, the Corsa and the Astra. Other popular models include the 3 series and the 207, the Clio and the Golf.

Trade In Goods Is Down, Services Unchanged

The UK trade deficit in the value of goods and services grew from £3.1bn in September to £3.2bn in October. The difference was in value of the trade in goods where the deficit increased from £6.9bn in September to £7.1bn in October. The trade surplus in services was unchanged over the month at £3.9bn. Export and import prices both rose by 1.6%.

The volume of exports was up 3.8% and imports by 4.3% inOctober compared with September. There were big increases in the export by value of oil, cars, intermediate goods and semi-manufactured goods other than chemicals between October and September. Imports of chemicals, consumer goods and capital goods also increased significantly in terms of commodity value during the month. The value of exports of chemicals, cars, semi-manufactured goods and intermediate goods has also significantly increased as has the imports of cars, chemicals, intermediate goods and consumer goods over the year.

Trade in goods with EU countries showed a deficit of £3.6bn, up £0.4bn as exports rose by £0.4bn to £11.3bn and imports rose £0.8bn to £14.9bn. The deficit in trade with non-EU countries narrowed to £3.5bn from £3.8bn in September. Within the G7 countries, imports from the US went up £0.4bn and imports from Norway fell £0.2bn. There were no export movements over £0.2bn.

As the prices for both imports and exports were unchanged in October, the terms of trade remained the same as September. Over the quarter import prices increased by 1.6% and export prices by 2% giving an increase in the terms of trade. The balance on trade in oil was in deficit by £0.1bn from £0.5bn in September.

The surplus on trade in services as unchanged in October from September at £3.9bn. Exports rose to £12.9bn and imports rose to £9bn. Over the quarter the surplus widenend to £12bn from £11.4bn.