Welsh international goods trade: October 2020 to September 2021

The data in this report are provisional estimates for October 2020 to September 2021 and will be revised routinely over the next 18 months to account for late returns. Alongside these scheduled updates, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are also publishing corrections to the Regional Trade Statistics covering 2015 to 2019 trade data as part of this publication. More information on these corrections can be found on the UK Trade Info website.

The data covers the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the first 3 quarters of trade following European Union (EU) Exit. Data covers exports and imports of goods.

From 31 December 2020, the way HMRC collects trade in goods data changed, resulting in a break in the time series for published UK to EU trade statistics from January 2021, therefore historic comparisons should be treated with caution (see Notes).

July to September 2021 (provisional)

Short term quarterly changes can be volatile, the provisional data are presented here given the interest in EU Exit impacts on trade since January 2021. COVID-19 restrictions along with global supply chain issues will also have had significant impacts on trade during this time.

Exports

• Between July to September 2021, the value of goods exports in Wales was estimated at £4.1 billion.
• In Wales, EU exports increased by 4.0% and Non EU exports increased by 26.9% compared to the previous quarter. Over the same period for the UK, EU exports decreased by 1.6%  and Non EU exports decreased by 1.9%.
• Wales saw the biggest proportional increase in exports across all the UK regions compared to the previous quarter at 12.7%, followed by Scotland with an increase of 4.3%. Northern Ireland saw a decrease of 0.6% and England a decrease of 3.3%.

Imports

• Between July to September 2021, the value of goods imports to Wales was estimated at £4.2 billion.
• In Wales EU imports increased by 1.6% and Non EU imports increased by 22.7% compared to the previous quarter. Over the same period, the increase across the UK for EU imports was 4.2% and Non EU imports increased by 6.5%.
• All four nations saw increases in imports compared to the previous quarter. Northern Ireland saw the largest increase of 18.9%, followed by Wales 14.4%, Scotland 11.7% and England 3.6%.

October 2020 to September 2021

Exports

• The value of goods exports for Wales was £14.3 billion in the year ending September 2021, down £66 million (0.5%) compared to the year ending September 2020 and down £3.5 billion (19.7%) compared to the year ending September 2019.
• There was an increase in exports to EU countries of £117 million (1.4%) and a decrease in exports to non-EU countries of £184 million (3.1%), compared with the previous year.
• Exports to the EU accounted for 60.0% of Welsh exports compared with 49.1% for the UK.
• Exports from Wales continued to be dominated by ‘Machinery and Transport Equipment’, which made up 42.7% of exports.

Imports

• The value of goods imports for Wales was £15.3 billion in the year ending September 2021, up £249 million (1.7%) compared to the year ending September 2020 and down £3.2 billion (17.2%) compared to the year ending September 2019.
• There was an increase in imports from EU countries of £344 million (5.9%) and a decrease in imports from non-EU countries of £94 million (1.0%), compared with the previous year.
• Imports from the EU accounted for 40.3% of Welsh imports compared with 49.8% for the UK.
• Imports to Wales continue to be dominated by ‘Machinery and Transport Equipment’, which made up 35.0% of imports.

Notes

Because of changes to the way in which the data is collected, additional low value trade that was previously allocated to countries and regions may now be reported under the ‘Unallocated-unknown’ category. This has led to a likely reduction in the UK to EU export values, and total export values for Wales (and other regions) from January 2021 onwards. More detailed notes of these effects can be read in the HMRC full commentary (UK Trade Info) on these statistics.

Some of the exports data included in this report may get revised by HMRC as part of their routine revisions to the data set. The latest data will be available on the UK Trade Info website.

Further information

The data above relates to international goods trade. Experimental statistics produced by the Office for National statistics suggest that service exports make up approximately 30% of total exports in Wales.

Key results are published quarterly.

Welsh Government statisticians are reviewing its analysis and publication of HMRC trade data including the contents of the annual goods trade bulletin. If you would like to be like to be involved in a review, or provide any feedback on any aspect of these statistics, please email stats.trade@gov.wales.