Responding to the latest UK trade figures, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, commented:
“January marked a positive start to the year for UK exporters, with goods and services seeing increased demand in both EU and non-EU markets, despite ongoing global trade uncertainty.
“Goods exports rose by 3.5% month on month, and services exports were up by 2.3%. While overall imports remained steady, imports of goods from the EU fell by 2.4% during the month.
“These figures reflect the resilience of UK businesses in the face of an increasingly challenging global trade environment. With US tariffs already in place and the potential for further measures – including retaliatory tariffs from other nations – the rest of 2025 may prove difficult, particularly for exporters.
“This underlines the importance of the upcoming Industrial and Trade Strategies in delivering targeted support to boost exports across key sectors such as professional and business services, advanced manufacturing, defence, and life sciences.
“We also urge the Government to seek a refreshed agreement with the EU, our largest trading partner, to reduce trade friction and enable UK firms to grow and thrive.”
UK Trade Performance – January 2025
In January, total UK exports of goods and services increased by 2.8% compared with the previous month. Goods exports rose by 3.5%, while services exports increased by 2.3%.
Overall import volumes declined by 0.9%. Goods imports fell by 1.7%, whereas services imports edged up by 0.6%.
Exports to non-EU countries saw particularly strong growth, with goods volumes rising by 5.7%. Exports to the EU also improved, growing by 1.3%. On the import side, EU goods imports dropped by 2.4%, while those from non-EU countries decreased more modestly by 1%.
Notably, goods exports to the United States increased by £0.1 billion during January.
Info obtained here
