National Statistics logo 2 December 2004

Economy

UK Trade
September deficit of £2.9 billion


Balance of Trade
Balance of Trade
The UK's deficit on trade in goods and services improved in September to stand at £2.9 billion - compared with the revised deficit for August of £3.6 billion.

The deficit on trade in goods in September was £4.5 billion. This is £0.6 billion better than the deficit for August, and is despite the balance of trade in oil moving into deficit in September. The deficit of £0.3 billion on trade in oil in the month reflects summer maintenance work in the North Sea being deferred until September. The improvement in the overall deficit is due to higher exports of intermediate and capital goods, chemicals and other semi-manufactured goods. The deficit with the enlarged EU in September was almost unchanged at £2.2 billion. The deficit with non-EU countries improved to £2.4 billion as a result of higher exports. The surplus on trade in services rose by £0.1 billion to a record £1.7 billion.

Excluding oil and erratic items, the volume of exported goods rose by five per cent between August and September. This increase reflected a rise of 12 per cent in exports to non-EU countries. Within exports of manufactured goods, exports of cars, capital and intermediate goods, chemicals and other semi-manufactures all rose by at least four per cent.

Excluding oil and erratic items, the volume of imported fell between August and September by one and a half per cent with falls in imports from EU and non-EU countries. Within manufactured goods there was a general reduction in the volume of imports with the exception of imports of cars, which rose 21 per cent in the month.
Published on 9 November 2004 at 9:30 am


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