UK trade: March 2025

• The value of goods imports decreased by £0.4 billion (0.7%) in March 2025 because of a fall in imports from non-EU countries, partially offset by a rise in EU imports.

• The value of goods exports increased by £0.2 billion (0.8%) in March 2025, with a rise in exports to the EU.

• Exports of goods to the United States increased for the fourth consecutive month; there was a £2.4 billion rise in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2025, while imports of goods from the United States rose by £1.3 billion.

• The total goods and services trade deficit narrowed by £3.6 billion to a deficit of £6.6 billion in Quarter 1 2025, compared with the previous quarter.

• The trade in goods deficit narrowed by £4.3 billion to £55.2 billion in Quarter 1 2025, while the trade in services surplus is estimated to have narrowed by around £0.7 billion to £48.6 billion.

Total imports of goods in "current prices", which are not adjusted for inflation (as explained in Section 13: Glossary), fell by £0.4 billion (0.7%) in March 2025. Imports from non-EU countries fell by £0.6 billion (2.5%) while imports from the EU increased by £0.2 billion (0.9%) (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Total exports of goods rose by £0.2 billion (0.8%) in March 2025 because exports to the EU increased by £0.2 billion (1.6%), while UK exports to non-EU countries remained stable for the second consecutive month.

Imports from the EU were £2.8 billion higher than from non-EU countries in March 2025, while exports to the EU were £2.5 billion lower than to non-EU countries.

Figure 1: Imports from non-EU countries fell in March 2025, while exports to non-EU countries remained stable for the second consecutive month

EU and non-EU goods imports and exports, excluding precious metals, current prices, seasonally adjusted, March 2022 to March 2025

After removing the effect of inflation by calculating "chained volume measures" (as explained in Section 13: Glossary), total goods imports increased by £0.4 billion (0.7%) in March 2025 (Figure 2). This increase was primarily because of a £0.2 billion (0.8%) rise in imports from non-EU countries, while imports from the EU also rose by £0.2 billion (0.6%).

Total goods exports increased by £0.9 billion (2.9%) in March 2025 after the effect of inflation was removed. This was because exports to the EU rose by £0.6 billion (4.1%) and exports to non-EU countries increased by £0.3 billion (1.9%).

Figure 2: In both value and inflation adjusted terms, imports from the EU rose in March 2025

Imports and exports of goods, excluding precious metals, current prices and chained volume measures, seasonally adjusted, EU and non-EU, March 2022 to March 2025

Notes:

1. Our chained volume measures (CVM) series are based on indices impacted by issues affecting the Producer Price Index (PPI). We therefore advise caution in interpreting CVM movements.

President Trump formally announced a range of tariffs on imports of goods to the United States on 2 April 2025, with imports from the UK subject to a blanket 10% tariff and imports of steel and aluminium, and cars and car parts subject to a higher 25% tariff.

On 8 May 2025 the UK government announced the signing of a trade deal between the United States and the UK. The deal includes lowering the 27.5% tariff on UK car exports to the United States. The first 100,000 UK car exports to the United States now face a reduced tariff of 10% and tariffs on UK aluminium and steel exports were removed. All other commodities remain subject to the 10% blanket tariff on exports. There was also removal of tariffs on the first 1.4 billion litres of ethanol and 13,000 metric tonnes of beef imports from the United States.

Exports of goods to the United States, including precious metals, rose by £0.1 billion in March 2025 and increased by £2.4 billion in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2025. Imports of goods, including precious metals, decreased by £0.2 billion in March 2025, but rose by £1.3 billion in Quarter 1 2025. Goods exports to the United States increased for the fourth consecutive month and are at the highest level since Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022 (Figure 3).

As this release covers trade up to March 2025, there will be no direct impact of tariffs on this data. However, this pattern of increasing exports could be a sign of changing trader behaviour ahead of tariff introduction. We will continue to monitor UK trade with the United States in future releases.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reported precious metals as a large driver of United States export growth in January and February 2025, which is not reflected in our data because of different methodology used to measure trade. HMRC measure trade on a cross-border movement basis, whereas we measure trade on an economic ownership basis, which leads to different statistics. HMRC have published information on the difference between the statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and HMRC.

Our National Accounts articles: A brief explanation of non-monetary gold in national accounts provides further information on our treatment of non-monetary gold.

We published our UK trade with the United States article on 25 April 2025, providing a more detailed look at our trade in goods and services with the United States in 2024.

Goods imports

The value of imports from the EU increased by £0.2 billion (0.9%) in March 2025. This was because of a £0.4 billion rise in imports of fuels, and small increases in imports of chemicals, and food and live animals (Figure 4). This was offset by a £0.3 billion fall in imports of machinery and transport equipment. The rise in imports of fuels was linked to increased imports of refined oil from the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and France. The decrease in imports of machinery and transport equipment was linked to a fall in imports of cars from Germany.

The value of imports from non-EU countries decreased by £0.6 billion (2.5%) in March 2025. This was because of a £0.3 billion fall in imports of machinery and transport equipment, linked to decreased imports of aircraft from the United States. There were also £0.2 billion falls in imports of fuels and miscellaneous manufactures. These were because of decreased imports of gas from the United States and Norway and jewellery from Qatar, respectively.

Figure 4: Imports of machinery and transport equipment from the EU and non-EU countries declined in March 2025

EU and non-EU goods imports by commodity, current prices, seasonally adjusted, March 2023 to March 2025

Goods exports

The value of exports to the EU increased by £0.2 billion (1.6%) in March 2025. This was because of a £0.2 billion rise in export of fuels linked to higher exports of crude oil to the Netherlands (Figure 5).

The value of exports to non-EU countries remained stable in March 2025. This was because a £0.8 billion rise in exports of machinery and transport equipment was offset by a £0.4 billion fall in exports of material manufactures, and a £0.3 billion decrease in fuel exports. The increase in exports of machinery and transport equipment was linked to increased exports of cars to the United States. The fall in exports of material manufactures and fuels was because of decreased exports of non-ferrous metals to the United States and crude oil to South Korea, respectively.

Figure 5: Exports of machinery and transport equipment to non-EU countries rose in March 2025

EU and non-EU goods exports by commodity, current prices, seasonally adjusted, March 2023 to March 2025

Early estimates suggest imports of services increased slightly by around £0.1 billion (0.4%) in value terms in March 2025, while exports rose by £0.2 billion (0.4%) (Figure 6). There was little difference between trade in services trends in value and inflation-adjusted terms.

Monthly figures for trade in services for March 2025 are forecast using time series and additional data sources. Early estimates of trade in services are revised in line with the National Accounts Revisions Policy. Our UK trade Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) has more detail on how our trade in services statistics are compiled.

The S&P Global UK Services PMI (PDF, 143KB) for March reported a rise in business activity in the services sector; new work increased for the first time in 2025, which was attributed to an increase in export orders. Service providers also commented on an increase in new overseas demand and signals of increased demand in the European market, however this was slightly offset by weaker demand to the United States. While concerns around rising payroll costs and the impact of the United States tariffs on the economy persisted, there was still a rise in business confidence and business activity expectations in March.

Figure 6: Imports and exports of services increased in March 2025

Imports and exports of services, current prices and chained volume measures, seasonally adjusted, March 2022 to March 2025

Notes:

1. Monthly figures for trade in services for March 2025 are forecast using time series and additional data sources. Early estimates of trade in services are revised in line with the National Accounts Revisions Policy.
2. Our chained volume measures (CVM) series are based on indices impacted by issues affecting the Producer Price Index (PPI). We therefore advise caution in interpreting CVM movements.

Total imports of goods increased by £2.0 billion (1.4%) in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2025, compared with Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024 (Table 2). Goods imports from the EU decreased by £0.4 billion (0.5%), and goods imports from non-EU countries rose by £2.4 billion (3.6%).

Exports of goods increased by £6.3 billion (7.3%) in Quarter 1 2025. This rise was primarily because goods exports to non-EU countries increased by £5.9 billion (13.2%), while goods exports to the EU increased by £0.4 billion (1.1%).

For trade in services for Quarter 1 2025, International Trade in Services (ITIS) Survey figures are forecast using time series data. This forecast is combined with additional data sources to make up trade in services totals. This forecast will be revised in our GDP quarterly national accounts bulletin using ITIS survey data.

Early estimates indicate that imports of services increased by around £5.1 billion (6.4%) in Quarter 1 2025, compared with Quarter 4 2024, while exports of services rose by an estimated £4.4 billion (3.4%).

Imports of goods from the EU decreased by £0.4 billion (0.5%) in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2025 compared with Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024. This was because a £0.7 billion decrease in imports of chemicals, a £0.2 billion fall in material manufactures, and small falls in most other categories, were offset by a £0.8 billion rise in imports of fuels (Figure 7). The fall in imports of chemicals was because of decreased imports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products from Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark, while the rise in imports of fuels was because of increased imports of refined oil from Netherlands and Sweden.

Imports from non-EU countries increased by £2.4 billion (3.6%) in Quarter 1 2025. This was because of a £0.9 billion rise in imports of machinery and transport equipment, a £0.6 billion increase in fuels imports, and a £0.4 billion rise in imports of chemicals. There were smaller increases in most other categories. The rise in imports of machinery and transport equipment was linked to increased imports of cars from Japan and ships from South Korea. The increase in imports of fuels was because of a rise in gas imports from the United States. Increased chemical imports were because of a rise in imports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products from the United States.

Exports to the EU increased by £0.4 billion (1.1%) in Quarter 1 2025 because of £0.2 billion rises in exports of chemicals and machinery and transport equipment. The increase in exports of chemicals was because of higher exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products to Germany. The increase in machinery and transport equipment was linked to a rise in exports of mechanical power generators (intermediate) to Portugal and cars to Belgium.

Exports to non-EU countries increased by £5.9 billion (13.2%) in Quarter 1 2025. This was because of a £4.1 billion rise in exports of material manufactures, a £0.9 billion rise in exports of machinery and transport equipment and £0.3 billion rises in exports of chemicals, fuels and miscellaneous manufactures.

The increase in material manufactures exports was primarily because of a rise in exports of non-ferrous metals to the United States. The rise in exports of machinery and transport equipment was linked to higher exports of mechanical power generators (intermediate) to both Hong Kong and Singapore.

Figure 7: Exports of material manufactures to non-EU countries increased in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2025

Changes in imports and exports by goods commodity group, excluding unspecified goods, current prices, seasonally adjusted, Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2025 compared with Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024

Early estimates indicate that imports of services increased by £5.1 billion (6.4%) in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2025 compared with Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024. The largest rises in imports were a £2.8 billion increase in other business services and a £2.1 billion rise in travel services (Figure 8).

Exports of services increased by £4.4 billion (3.4%) in Quarter 1 2025. This was because of a £1.9 billion rise in exports of other business services, a £1.6 billion rise in exports of travel services, and a £0.6 billion rise in exports of insurance and pension services. These increases were partially offset by a £0.3 billion fall in financial services exports.

For trade in services for Quarter 1 2025, International Trade in Services (ITIS) survey figures are forecast using time series data; this forecast is combined with additional data sources to make up trade in services totals. This forecast will be revised in our GDP quarterly national accounts bulletin using ITIS survey data.

The total goods and services trade deficit, excluding precious metals, narrowed by £3.6 billion to £6.6 billion in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2025 (Figure 9). Exports rose by £10.7 billion and imports rose by £7.2 billion over this period. The total trade deficit, excluding precious metals, narrowed by £4.0 billion to £19.6 billion when removing the effect of inflation.

The trade in goods deficit in value terms, excluding precious metals, narrowed by £4.3 billion to £55.2 billion in Quarter 1 2025, as goods exports rose by more than imports. The trade in services surplus is estimated to have narrowed by £0.7 billion to £48.6 billion, driven by an increase in imports of services.

Explore the 2024 trade in goods data using our interactive tools. Our data break down UK trade in goods with 234 countries by 125 commodities.

Use our map to get a better understanding of what goods the UK traded with a country. Select a country by hovering over it (desktop only) or use the drop-down menu.

Notes:

1. For more information about our methods and how we compile these statistics, see our Trade in goods, country-by-commodity experimental data: 2011 to 2016 article. Users should note that the data published alongside this release are official statistics and no longer in development.

2. These data are our best estimate of these bilateral UK trade flows. Users should note that alternative estimates are available, in some cases, through the statistical agencies for bilateral countries or through central databases, such as United Nations (UN) Comtrade.

3. This interactive map denotes country boundaries in accordance with statistical classifications set out in Appendix 4 of the Balance of Payments (BoP) Vademecum (PDF, 2.9MB) and do not represent the UK policy on disputed territories.

You can also explore the 2024 trade in goods data by commodity, such as car exports to the EU, and UK tea or coffee imports.

Select a commodity from the drop-down menu or select the levels with your digit or cursor to explore the data.

Notes:

1. For more information about our methods and how we compile these statistics, see our Trade in goods, country-by-commodity experimental data: 2011 to 2016 article. Users should note that the data published alongside this release are no longer in development.
2. These data are our best estimate of these bilateral UK trade flows. Users should note that alternative estimates are available, in some cases, through the statistical agencies for bilateral countries or through central databases, such as UN Comtrade.
3. These interactive charts denote country boundaries in accordance with statistical classifications set out within Appendix 4 of the Balance of Payments (BoP) Vademecum (PDF, 2.9MB) and does not represent the UK policy on disputed territories.

In accordance with the National Accounts Revisions Policy, the data in this release have been revised from January 2025 to February 2025 for both goods and services.

Chained volume measures

Chained volume measures (CVMs) are a “real” measure in that they have had the effect of inflation removed to measure the change in volume between consecutive periods, fixing the prices of goods and services in one period (known as the base year, which is 2022 for trade).

Current price measures

Current price estimates (CPs) measure the actual price paid for goods or services and are not adjusted for inflation. Unless otherwise stated, all current price data are provided in £ million and are seasonally adjusted.

Inflation

Inflation is the change in the average price level of goods and services over a period of time.

Implied deflators

An implied deflator (IDEF) shows the implied change in average prices for the respective components of the trade balance, for example, the IDEF for imports will show the average price movement for imports.

Precious metals and non-monetary gold

Precious metals include non-monetary gold, silver, platinum and palladium. The category forms part of the commodity group "unspecified goods". Non-monetary gold comprises the majority of this group and is the technical term for gold bullion not owned by central banks.

Trade balance

The trade balance is the difference between exports and imports or exports minus imports. When the value of exports is greater than the value of imports, the trade balance is in surplus. When the value of imports is greater than the value of exports, the trade balance is in deficit. The balance is sometimes referred to as “net exports”.

A full Glossary of economic terms is available.

The UK leaving the EU and the subsequent transition period, along with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, supply chain disruption and global recession, have caused higher levels of volatility in trade statistics in recent years. The monthly analysis shows short-term trade movements, but it is important to note that monthly data can be erratic, and therefore movements should be treated with caution.

Data collection changes

Since the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, the arrangements for how the UK trades with the EU changed. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) implemented some data collection changes following Brexit, which affected statistics on UK trade in goods with the EU. We have made adjustments to our estimates of goods imports from the EU in 2021 and 2022 to account for these changes, however, a structural break remains in the full time series for goods imports from and exports to the EU from January 2021.

We therefore advise caution when interpreting and drawing conclusions from these statistics. Our Impact of trade in goods data collection changes on UK trade statistics: summary of adjustments and the structural break from 2021 article provides more detail.

Data sources

Data from HMRC make up over 90% of trade in goods value and are the main source for this release. Data from the quarterly International Trade in Services (ITIS) Survey make up over 50% of trade in services data. View our UK trade Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) for more detail.

Data from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) are the main source for travel services, historically making up around 8% of total imports. The survey has now fully resumed following the suspension in 2020. View our UK trade Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) for more detail.

Unless otherwise specified, data within this bulletin are in current prices and have not been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation. In line with international standards, our headline trade statistics contain the UK's exports and imports of non-monetary gold. More information can be found in our National Accounts article: A brief explanation of non-monetary gold in national accounts.

Method

Trade is measured through both exports and imports of goods and services. Data are supplied by over 30 sources, including several administrative sources, with HMRC being the largest for trade in goods.

Our UK trade figures are produced using country of dispatch, which records imports as coming from the country dispatching the shipments. However, trade figures can also be produced using country of origin, as is used by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). Users should be aware of the different accounting methods used and the resulting differences across trade figures.

Monthly trade in services data are taken from quarterly trade in services data and are split across the months within that quarter through estimation. In months where we have a full quarter's data, we revise previous estimates of monthly values within that quarter.

View more detailed information about the methods used to produce UK trade statistics in our UK trade methodology.

Allocation of non-ferrous metals

We receive data on UK trade in goods primarily through customs declarations from HMRC. HMRC measures trade on a cross-border-movement basis. We measure trade on an economic-ownership basis, which is where ownership changes but cross-border movement has not necessarily occurred.

To measure trade in non-monetary gold and other precious metals on an economic ownership basis, we supplement the HMRC data with data from the Bank of England.

Our headline trade statistics contain the UK's exports and imports of non-monetary gold, in line with international standards. More information can be found in our National Accounts article: A brief explanation of non-monetary gold in national accounts.

The commodity group of material manufactures includes non-ferrous metals such as silver, palladium, copper, aluminium, tin, and others. These materials are mainly used in manufacturing. They are subject to adjustments that account for trade where economic ownership has changed, but cross-border movement has not occurred.

We are currently reviewing our methodology for the allocation of non-ferrous metals, to ensure that we capture all trade of non-ferrous metals where these commodities are traded as a financial asset.

Pausing of Producer Prices publications

As announced on 21 March 2025, during work to improve the systems used to create the Producer Price Index (PPI) and the Services Producer Price Indices (SPPI), our quality assurance identified a problem with the chain-linking methods used to calculate the PPI and SPPI indices. A further update on the PPI and SPPI was published on 11 April 2025.

This problem affects some of the deflators used for both trade in goods and trade in services, including the Import Price Indices (IPI) and Export Price Indices (EPI). Further analysis is required to understand the full impact to trade, including effects at a more detailed level, for example, by country and commodity. Early analysis suggests that some goods export and import data from 2023, and some goods export data, before 2014 may be affected. This impact will be seen in our chained volume measures (CVM) and implied deflator (IDEF) series.

We do not plan any changes to the publication timetable for monthly UK trade and will continue to use PPI estimates compiled under the current methodology while the issues are investigated.

We will provide further information on the likely effects as soon as is practicable.

National Statistics designation status

The UK Statistics Authority suspended the National Statistics designation of UK trade (PDF, 72.9KB) on 14 November 2014. We have responded to all of the specific requirements of the Office for Statistics Regulation's (OSR) reassessment of UK trade. As part of our engagement with the OSR team, we are sharing our continuous improvement and development plans to support UK trade statistics regaining Accredited official statistics status. We welcome feedback on our new trade statistics, developments, and future plans by email to trade@ons.gov.uk.

Trade asymmetries

Asymmetries can be caused by a range of conceptual and measurement variations between the estimation practices of different countries. Statistical agencies are likely to have different source data, estimation methods, and methodological, geographical, and definitional differences. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publishes more information on UK trade asymmetries. We publish analysis on trade in services asymmetries in our Asymmetries in trade data articles.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our UK Trade QMI.