To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the underlying cause of the fall in UK goods exports in 2023, as reported by the Office for National Statistics on 15 February, and what action they are taking to reverse the decline in UK goods exports.
Answered on
5 March 2024
The main causes of the £33 billion decrease (current prices) in goods exports were fuels (predominantly oil) down £24 billion, non-monetary gold and other precious metals down £15 billion, and non-ferrous metals (mainly silver and metals in the platinum group) down £7 billion.
Trade in these commodities is known to be very erratic and export values can fluctuate substantially year on year.
The Department for Business and Trade are committed to growing exports and will continue to provide businesses with a wealth of export support options on great.gov.uk, including trade advisers, Export Champions, the Export Academy, our International Markets network and UK Export Finance