Interregional trade in goods and services, UK: 2019 and 2020

• This release contains interregional trade figures, which estimate trade in goods and services between UK regions at a consistent geographical and industry basis; this differs from subnational trade, which estimates UK regions’ goods and services trade internationally.

• England was the only UK nation with a total trade surplus (£4.8 billion) in 2020; this was primarily the result of a trade in goods surplus of £6.3 billion.

• Scotland exported £18.4 billion of goods to England in 2020, more than any other UK country pair; this was mainly caused by exports of £3.6 billion in the manufacturing industry to the North West.

• The total trade balance for England increased by £3.3 billion between 2019 and 2020, more than any other UK nation; this was caused by a £9.1 billion decrease in imports and a £5.8 billion decrease in exports to other UK nations.

• Between 2019 and 2020, the only International Territorial Level 1 (ITL1) region that saw an increase in total trade exports was Northern Ireland, which increased by £74.0 million; this was caused by a £280.0 million increase in trade in services exports.

• Greater London total trade exports decreased by 25% (£127.2 billion) between 2019 and 2020, greater than any other region; this was caused by a £93.6 billion decrease in goods exports from the wholesale and motor trade industry.

England was the only nation with a total trade surplus in 2020. The total trade surplus was £4.8 billion and was mainly the result of a trade in goods surplus of £6.3 billion. Northern Ireland had the highest trade in services surplus of £1.7 billion, followed by Wales with £178.0 million. Northern Ireland had the highest trade deficit of £1.7 billion; this was caused by a trade in goods deficit of £3.4 billion.

England was the largest exporter of both goods and services in 2020, led by exports to Scotland of £18.3 billion (47.1%) and £14.0 billion (76.3%). The manufacturing industry contributed 44.1% (£8.1 billion) of goods exports to Scotland. Similarly, the manufacturing industry accounted for the largest share of England's services exports to Scotland, totalling £4.3 billion (30.5%). Scottish annual business statistics for 2020, show that while the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had a negative impact on the manufacturing industry in Scotland, with gross value added (GVA) decreasing by 15.4%, it still made a contribution of £11.0 billion to Scottish GVA during this period.

UK interregional exports, at the International Territorial Level (ITL) 1, were led by Greater London, with exports of £379.9 billion (28.1%) in 2020, followed by the South East of England (£257.0 billion) and the East of England (£145.4 billion). Greater London exports were led by goods exports of £222.2 billion (58.5%). Of these goods exports, 86.7% (£192.6 billion) were in the wholesale and motor trades industry, with £83.5 billion going to the South East of England.

Northern Ireland saw the lowest total interregional exports among the ITL 1 regions, at £10.9 billion, led largely by exports of goods of £6.7 billion (60.9%). Northern Ireland's largest goods export partner in 2020 was Scotland, to which it exported £1.9 billion. Of these exports, £1.2 billion (65.4%) were in the manufacturing industry.

England was also the largest importer of both goods and services at £32.6 billion and £19.9 billion, respectively. England's imports were led by goods imports from Scotland of £18.4 billion (56.3%), with £8.4 billion (45.6%) from within the manufacturing industry. £13.9 billion (69.8%) of England's services imports were also from Scotland, with £4.5 billion (32.6%) coming from the non-manufacturing production industry.

The South East of England saw the highest total imports at ITL1 level, at £227.6 billion (16.9%), £148.7 billion (65.3%) of which was goods trade. The South East imported the largest value of goods from Greater London in 2020 (£96.1 billion), the wholesale and motor trades industry accounted for £83.5 billion (86.8%) of this. The West Midlands saw the largest imports of services, at £132.7 billion (22.3%). This was led by a £39.1 billion imports of services from Greater London, £10.1 billion (25.9%) of which was from the "other service industries" category.

Northern Ireland saw the least total imports at ITL1 level, at £12.6 billion. This was largely led by £10.0 billion in goods imports. Of this, 33.8% (£3.4 billion) was from the North West of England, with £1.6 billion (47.2%) coming from the wholesale and motor trades sector.

With the exception of Scotland, all UK countries saw a trade balance increase between 2019 and 2020. These increases were led by England, with a surplus increase of £3.3 billion, followed by Northern Ireland, which saw a reduced deficit of £742.0 million. Scotland's trade balance decreased by £4.1 billion, moving from a trade surplus to a trade deficit.

England’s increased surplus was largely the result of a fall in total imports of £9.1 billion (14.7%), while its exports fell by £5.8 billion (9.2%). Trade in goods accounted for 86.6% of this, with a £5.0 billion fall in exports.

Of all the UK International Territorial Level (ITL) 1 regions, only Northern Ireland had an increase in total exports between 2019 and 2020. The increase in total exports was £74.0 million (0.7%), with a fall of £206.0 million in trade in goods offset by a rise of £280.0 million in services trade. This was led by services exports to the North West of England, which increased by £138.0 million (27.9%), with non-manufacturing production exports increasing by £277.0 million (188.4%). This sector includes agriculture, mining (excluding crude oil), and electricity.

Despite the fall in total goods exports, Northern Ireland's goods exports to the East Midlands saw an increase of £1.3 billion (296.2%). The manufacturing industry, which includes the food and beverages, machinery and aerospace industries, accounted for £841.0 million (349.0%) of this increase. The East Midlands has seen improved growth in the manufacturing industry, including the food and beverages industry during this period.

Greater London saw the largest fall in exports, which decreased by £127.2 billion (25.1%), between 2019 and 2020. This decrease was largely caused by goods exports, which decreased by £96.0 billion (30.2%) during this period, with the wholesale and motor trade sector decreasing by £93.6 billion (32.7%). Growth in the UK automotive sales industry slowed between 2019 and 2020, because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown.

Goods imported into Yorkshire and The Humber decreased less than goods imported into any other UK region between 2019 and 2020, with total imports decreasing by £643.0 million (1.0%). An increase in services imports of £194.0 million, £166.0 million (85.6%) of which was from Greater London, was offset by a decrease of £837.0 million in goods imports. Despite the overall fall in goods imports, Yorkshire and The Humber saw an increase of £2.0 billion in imports of goods from the East Midlands, which was led by a £2.1 billion (516.3%) increase in imports in the wholesale and motor trades industry.

The largest decrease in imports was seen in the East of England which decreased by £65.5 billion (27.6%) between 2019 and 2020, led by a £53.0 billion (30.0%) fall in goods imports. This included a reduction of £47.0 billion (34.2%) in imports from the wholesale and motor trades industry. This was largely the result of a decrease in goods imports of £41.0 billion (41.5%) from Greater London, within this industry.

Across all UK ITL1 regions, the wholesale and motor trades industry saw the largest fall in goods imports, decreasing by £112.3 billion (20.3%) from 2019 to 2020 between all UK ITL1 regions, as the pandemic lockdown slowed trade movements in 2020.

Explore the 2020 interregional trade data using our interactive tool. Our data break down UK interregional trade by International Territorial Levels (ITL) 1, industry and trade direction. Select a trade direction using the buttons, and select an industry using the drop-down menu.

International Territorial Levels

The International Territorial Levels (ITL) are a hierarchical classification of administrative areas used for statistical purposes. ITL1 includes major socio-economic regions. In the context of the UK, they include the nine regions of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Total trade

The value of total trade between two trading partners (that is, exports plus imports).

Trade balance

The trade balance is the difference between exports and imports or exports minus imports. When the value of exports is greater than the value of imports, the trade balance is in surplus. When the value of imports is greater than the value of exports, the trade balance is in deficit. The balance is sometimes referred to as "net exports".

A full Glossary of economic terms is available.

Data sources

Our primary data sources include the Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics (NIETS), Exports Statistics Scotland (ESS), and the Trade Survey for Wales (TSW). More information on these data sources and the other administrative data that we use can be found in our Interregional trade in goods and services UK quality and methodology information (QMI).

More quality and methodology information

This bulletin presents estimates of the value of goods and services imports and exports, and total trade from 2019 and 2021 between UK nations and UK regions at the International Territorial Level (ITL) 1 level.

These statistics are labelled as "official statistics in development". Until September 2023, these were called "experimental statistics". Read more about the change in our Guide to official statistics in development.

We are developing how we collect and produce the data to improve the quality of these statistics. Once the developments are complete, we will review the statistics with the Statistics Head of Profession. We will decide whether the statistics are of sufficient quality and value to be published as official statistics, or whether further development is needed. Production may be stopped if they are not of sufficient quality or value. Users will be informed of the outcome and any changes.

We value your feedback on these statistics. Contact us at subnational.trade@ons.gov.uk.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Interregional Trade in Goods and Services UK QMI.

Our timeseries data for 2019 and 2020 are published simultaneously. 2020 was an atypical year in trade in the UK because of the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and lockdown measures.