Welsh international goods trade: April 2022 to March 2023

The data in this report are provisional estimates for April 2022 to March 2023 and will be revised routinely over the next 18 months to account for late returns.

Data covers the value (in current prices) of goods exports and imports.

It is important to consider the impact of global economic events on the value of trade as well as inflationary pressures pushing up current prices of products.

Year ending March 2023 (provisional)

Exports

• The value of goods exports for Wales was £20.9 billion in the year ending March 2023, up £4.3 billion (25.6%) compared to the year ending March 2022.
• The value of goods exports less ‘Oil’ (SITC 33) for Wales was £16.4 billion in the year ending March 2023, an increase of £2.5 billion (18.0%) when compared to the year ending March 2022.
• In the year ending March 2023, there was an increase in export values to EU countries of £2.2 billion (21.9%) up to £12.0 billion and an increase in export values to non-EU countries of £2.1 billion (30.9%) up to £8.9 billion, compared to the year ending March 2022.
• Export values to the EU accounted for 57.2.% of Welsh export value compared with 52.2% for the UK.
• Export values from Wales continue to be dominated by ‘Machinery and Transport Equipment’^{[footnote 1]} which made up £8.0 billion (38.3%) of export values. However, a substantial increase was seen in the export values of Mineral Fuels, up £1.7 billion (60.2%) to £4.6 billion compared with the previous year. Mineral Fuels exports accounted for 21.8% of all exports from Wales.
  • Power Generating Machinery and Equipment’ was the largest value product within the ‘Machinery and transport Equipment category’ with £3.2 billion (15.3%) of Welsh exports. This is an increase of £0.9 billion (39.5%) compared with the previous March year end.
  • Within the Mineral Fuels category, ‘Petroleum, Petroleum Products and Related Materials’ (SITC 33) was the highest value product at £4.5 billion (21.4%) of Welsh exports. This is a value increase of £1.7 billion (64.2%) compared with the previous March year end.

Footnotes

[1] This includes Power Generating Machinery and Equipment, Machinery Specialized For Particular Industries, Metalworking Machinery, General Industrial Machinery and Equipment and Machine Parts not Elsewhere Specified, Office Machines and ADP Machines, Telecomms and Sound Recording and Reproducing Apparatus and Equipment, Electric Machinery, Apparatus and Appliances and Electric Parts Thereof not Elsewhere Specified, Road Vehicles (Including Air Cushion Vehicles), Other Transport Equipment.

Imports

• The value of goods imports for Wales was £23.9 billion in the year ending March 2023, up £5.6 billion (30.2%) compared to the year ending March 2022.
• The value of goods imports less ‘Oil’ (SITC 33) for Wales was £16.6 billion in the year ending March 2023, an increase of £2.8 billion (20.4%) when compared to the year ending March 2022.
• In the year ending March 2023, there was an increase in import values of goods from both EU countries of £1.5 billion (23.1%) up to £8.0 billion and non-EU countries of £4.0 billion (34.2%) up to £15.9 billion, compared to the year ending March 2022.
• Import values from the EU accounted for 33.6% of the total Welsh import value, compared with 49.7% for the UK.
• ‘Mineral Fuels’ is still the largest import value category at £8.4 billion, accounting for 34.9% of total import values, an increase of £3.0 billion (56.1%) compared to year ending March 2022. The second largest category remains as ‘Machinery and Transport Equipment’ with £7.8 billion (32.5%) of total imports.
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  • Within the ‘Mineral Fuels’ category, ‘Petroleum, Petroleum Products and Related Materials’ was the highest value product with £7.3 billion (30.6%) of Welsh imports. This is a value increase of £2.7 billion (59.6%) compared with the previous March year end.
  • ‘Power Generating Machinery and Equipment’ was the largest value product within the ‘Machinery and transport Equipment category’ with £3.4 billion (14.0%) of Welsh exports. This is an increase of £1.3 billion (66.3%) compared with the previous March year end.

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 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 UK Trade Info.

Further information

The data above relates to international goods trade. The latest experimental statistics (2020) produced by the Office for National statistics suggest that service exports make up approximately 30% of total exports in Wales, and 20% of total imports.

Main results are published quarterly, and are available on HMRC’s UK Trade Info Pages, our own interactive dashboard as well as StatsWales.

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