The UK government is determined to boost the country’s economic growth, but recently released trade figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) indicate a substantial journey ahead, according to leading audit, tax and business consultancy Blick Rothenberg .
Simon Sutcliffe, Customs & Excise Duty Partner at the firm, commented: “Trade statistics for 2023, published yesterday by HMRC, show that Britain is still a predominantly service-based economy in international trade, with imports and exports of services the movement of goods. The total value of exported services in 2023 was £187 billion, while imports of services amounted to £423 billion.”
He added: “In some notable industries, exports by sector exceed imports by value. Importantly, the main industries where imports exceed exports are agriculture and food, and the oil, energy and petroleum sectors. This could fuel opposition claims that Britain remains food and energy insecure.”
Sutcliffe continued: “While reducing import tariffs in the agriculture, food, and oil, energy and petroleum sectors is both politically and economically important, the services sector remains crucial to achieving economic growth. Hopefully, in future trade deals, the government will pay due attention to issues that affect this part of the economy, such as regulatory frameworks, common standards and access to talent and skills.”
He emphasized that the United States and China remain the United Kingdom’s largest individual trading partners outside the EU bloc countries. “The US is the largest export market at £57.7 billion and the import market at £63.3 billion for goods and services. The US is closely followed by China, with exports worth £27.3 billion and imports worth £62.2 billion,” he said.
Sutcliffe noted that this situation is putting pressure on the Prime Minister on how to conduct trade policy with these major economies.
He added: “EU exports to Britain are valued at £189.1 billion, while imports are valued at £326 billion. This is one of the largest trade imbalances in the report and perhaps reflects the struggle that UK businesses, whose only overseas market before Brexit was the EU, have faced post-Brexit with new administrative and customs burdens that have affected how and with whom they do business in the EU.”