China And Hong Kong Help UK Trade

The UK trade deficit grew from £1.8bn in August 2014 to £2.8bn in September 2014 according to estimates from the ONS. The deficit is made up of a deficit of £9.8bn on goods and a surplus of £7bn on services.

Over the month the trade in goods deficit increased by £0.9bn as exports increased but imports particularly from countries outside the EU increased even more.

The quarterly comparison shows that between Q2 and Q3 2014 the trade in goods deficit increased also by £0.9bn to £29bn. Exports fell by £0.3bn and imports increased by £0.6bn.

The UKs largest trading partner in terms of the value of goods exported and imported remains Germany but Q3 2014 recorded the largest ever deficit with Germany due to falling exports and rising imports. The UK surplus with the US hit an 8 year low but it was partially offset by better trade figures with China and Hong Kong.

Trade Deficit In Goods Now £27.4bn

The deficit on UK trade in goods widened by £0.9bn to £27.4bn in Q2 2014 compared with a deficit of £26.5bn in Q1 2014. There was a change in value of -£0.5bn or 0.7% in total exports to £71.3bn and a change of -£0.4bn or 0.4% to £98.7bn in total imports in Q2 2014.

At the level of the change in value by industry, exports in agriculture, forestry and fishing products fell by £45m and imports fell by £9m. Information and communications services exports increased by £25m and imports also increased by £2m. In professional, scientific and technical services exports fell by £3m and imports fell by £1m. Arts, entertainment and recreation imports increased by £91m and imports fell by £198m.

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 Narrows To £2.1bn

The deficit in the UK trade figures narrowed by £0.1bn from £2.2bn in January to £2.1bn in February. The deficit of £9.1bn in trade in goods was partially offset by the trade surplus in trade in services of £7bn. The trade balance reflects the exports minus imports position. The statistical bulletin from the ONS also advises data users to refer to the three monthly figures because of imports of erratic commodities such as ships, aircraft, precious stones and silver skewing the trade statistics and because trade statistics for a month can be misleading.

The impact can be seen in the three months to February which saw exports of goods decrease to £72.7bn (2.5%) due to falls across a range of commodities. Imports fell by 4.7% to £99bn over the same period due to a decrease in semi-manufactures and fuel. The estimated trade in services was £7bn with exports of £17bn and imports of £10bn. The three months to February saw an estimated surplus of £21.4bn in trade in services.

Trade Deficit Narrows To £1bn

Britain's trade deficit on goods and services was estimated to have been £1bn in December 2013 according to the ONS. This compares with a deficit of £3.6bn in November 2013. There was a deficit on goods of £7.7bn but a surplus of £6.7bn on services.

In terms of imports and exports, imports fell by 3.8% and exports grew by 2.1%. The biggest exports were in oil, chemicals and aircraft. There were falls in the import of aircraft and ships. Exports increased by 1.9% to £25bn between November and December 2013 while imports have decreased by 4.7% to £32.8bn.

Exports to countries outside the EU have increased 9.3% since July 2013 and imports have decreased by 9.6%.

UK Record Trade Deficit With EU

The latest UK trade figures were recently published by the ONS. The UK deficit on trade in goods and services in September 2013 was estimated to have been £3.3bn the same as it was in August. The figure is made up of a deficit of £9.8bn on goods and a surplus of £6.5bn on services.

Exports of goods to EU countries decreased by £0.3bn in September while imports increased by £0.4bn. Overall trade in goods with the EU has reached an record deficit of £6bn.

Trade Deficit Increases To £2.4bn

The UK trade deficit grew to £2.4bn in May from £2.1bn in April 2013 and £2.3bn in March. The deficit on goods was £8.5bn offset by a surplus of £6.1bn in services. Trade volumes have recovered since the lower levels at the beginning of the year. Trade prices have risen. Total exports increased by £0.4bn or 1.5% to £25.6bn and total imports increased by £0.4bn or 1.3% to £34.1bn. The annual comparison shows that there was a total trade deficit of £2.1bn in May 2012.

First Quarter Balance Of Payments £15.5bn Deficit

The UK current account deficit increased to £14.5bn in the first quarter of 2013 from £13.6bn in Q4 2012 according to a statistical bulletin from the ONS. The Q1 deficit equals 3.6% of GDP. The trade deficit improved to £6.1bn in Q1 2013 from £8.3bn in Q4 2012.

The monthly analysis shows that income balance fell to -£2.1bn from a surplus of £1bn which had the effect of increasing net borrowing from £12.7bn to £13.9bn. A decrease in the deficits of trade in goods and services of £2.1bn and in current transfers of £0.2bn partially offset the increase.

The UK was a net borrower of £55.4bn in 2012 from £18.5bn in 2011 mainly due to the income surplus of £22.5bn in 2011 becoming a deficit of £2.3bn in 2012 mainly due to a decrease in direct investment income surplus.

Trade in goods was -£26.5bn from -£28bn in the previous quarter. Exports rose by £0.9bn while imports fell by £0.5bn. Trade in services was £20.4bn in surplus up £0.7bn on the previous quarter. Exports increased to £49.4bn while imports increased by £0.3bn to £29bn.

Transfers were £6.2bn in deficit in Q1 2013, a decrease of £0.2bn.

The capital account was £0.6bn in surplus in Q1 2013 down £0.3bnn from the previous quarter. Inward investment was £10.2bn. The UK currnet account deficit £59.2bn.

UK Trade Deficit Down To £2.6bn

The UK trade deficit was estimated to have been £2.6bn in April according to the ONS statistical release on the UK's April trade figures. There was a £3.2bn deficit in March.

The trade deficit on goods was £8.2bn which was partly offset by a surplus of £5.6bn on services. Exports fell by 1.3% between March and April 2013. Imports fell by 2.7% over the same period. It was largely due to trading with the EU that the deficit was cut. Imports from the EU fell by about £1.3bn.

Reduction In UK Trade Deficit

The UK trade deficit in goods and services decreased to £3.1bn in March compared with the £3.4bn deficit in February. The deficit on trade in goods of £9.1bn was partially offset by a trade surplus in services of £5.9bn. The export of services was estimated at £15.6bn and imports £9.7bn. The estimated surplus on trade in services in Q1 2013 was £17.4bn with total exports £46.3bn and total imports £28.9bn.

Euro Area Trade In Goods In Surplus

The euro area trade in goods balance with the rest of the world for October this year shows a surplus of 10.2bn euros compared with October last year and 9.5bn euros surplus with September. Exports fell by 1.4% in October but imports grew by 0.6%. The EU27 however showed a deficit of 9.4bn euros compared with a deficit of 11.3bn euros in October 2011. The deficit in September was 12.5bn euros. Exports fell by 1.7% while imports rose by 0.3% in October compared with September.

Trade Deficit Down To £2.7bn

The UK trade deficit was reduced from £4.3bn to £2.7bn in August 2012 according to a statistical bulletin by the ONS. The EU trade deficit was £4.4bn and the non-EU trade deficit was £4bn. The total deficit on the balance of trade in goods was £8.4bn that was partly offset by a surplus of £5.7bn on services. Export of goods increased by £0.3bn to £24.9bn and imports of goods decreased by £1.3bn to £33.2bn in September 2012.

Modest International Trade Growth In First Quarter

Most major economies experienced modest merchandise trade in the first quarter of 2012 according to data from OECD. Total imports and exports of G7 and the BRICS countries increased by 1% and 0.6% respectively. China's trade dropped off sharply with exports contracting 4.2% and imports 3.8%.

Estimates Show Euro Area Trade Surplus

The first estimate from Eurostat for euro area trade with the world in November gave a surplus of 6.9bn euros. Exports rose by 3.9%. The EU27 reported a deficit of 7.2bn euros. Exports rose by 2.8%, but imports fell by 0.6%.

UK Trade Deficit £2.6bn

The UK seasonally adjusted trade deficit in goods and services in November was £2.6bn compared with £1.9bn for October 2011. Trade in goods was £8.6bn in deficit but the surplus on trade in services was £6.1bn. The volume of exports was down 1.7% and the volume of imports was up 1.1%. The prices of both exports and imports of goods fell by 0.4% and 0.2% respectively.

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).

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.

Services Trade Surplus Still Rising

The deficit on UK trade in goods and services fell to £1.9bn in August. The goods deficit fell to £7.8bn but the services trade surplus increased to £5.9bn. The volume of exports increased by 1.3%. Both import and export prices fell by 0.5% and 1.5% respectively.

GDP In Europe Increased By 0.2% In Q2 2011

There was an increase of 0.2% in GDP in both the euro area and the EU27 in the second quarter of 2011 compared with the first quarter according to a statistical news release from Eurostat the statistical office of the European Union. Growth rates in the first quarter were 1.8% in the euro area and 0.7% in the EU27. On a yearly basis, the second quarter results increased by 1.6% in the euro area and 1.7% in the EU27.

Household expenditure decreased by 0.2% after growing by 0.2% in the previous quarter and decreased by 0.1% in the EU27. Gross fixed capital formation, exports and imports all grew during the second quarter.

Increase In UK Trade But Deficit Goes Up

The UK trade balance deficit increased from £3.1bn in April to £4.1bn in May due to a larger increase in imports than exports which also increased in May. The deficit on trade in goods was £8.5bn in May compared with £7.6bn in April and the surplus on trade in services was £4.4bn in May compared with £4.5bn in the previous month. Both the volume of exports and the volume of imports increased in May. Export volume increased by 1.9% and import volume by 6%. Prices of exports fell by 1.7% and the prices of imports fell by 0.4% which meant a decrease in the terms of trade.