UK trade: October 2025

• The value of goods imports increased by £0.8 billion (1.5%) in October 2025, because of a rise in imports from both EU and non-EU countries.

• The value of goods exports rose by £1.5 billion (5.2%) in October 2025, mainly because of an increase in exports to non-EU countries.

• Exports of goods to the United States, including precious metals, rose by £1.1 billion (27%) in October 2025, while imports of goods rose by £2.2 billion (51.6%).

• The total goods and services trade deficit widened by £4.0 billion to £6.7 billion in the three months to October 2025.

• The trade in goods deficit widened by £3.9 billion to £60.5 billion in the three months to October 2025, while the trade in services surplus is estimated to have remained unchanged at £53.8 billion.

Total imports of goods in “current prices”, which are not adjusted for inflation (as explained in Section 11: Glossary), increased by £0.8 billion (1.5%) in October 2025, when compared with the previous month because of a £0.4 billion (1.9%) rise in imports from non-EU countries and a £0.3 billion (1.2%) rise in imports from the EU (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Total exports of goods increased by £1.5 billion (5.2%) in October 2025, mainly because of a £1.3 billion (8.6%) rise in exports to non-EU countries, while exports to the EU rose by £0.2 billion (1.7%).

Imports from the EU were £2.8 billion higher than from non-EU countries in October 2025, while exports to the EU were £1.6 billion lower than to non-EU countries.

Figure 1: Exports to non-EU countries increased in October 2025

EU and non-EU goods imports and exports, excluding precious metals, current prices, seasonally adjusted, October 2022 to October 2025

After removing the effect of inflation by calculating “chained volume measures” (as explained in Section 11: Glossary), total goods imports increased by £0.6 billion (1.0%) in October 2025 (Figure 2). This was because of a £0.4 billion (1.5%) rise in imports from non-EU countries, and a £0.2 billion (0.6%) rise in imports from the EU.

Total goods exports increased by £1.5 billion (4.9%) in October 2025, after the effect of inflation was removed. This was mainly because exports to non-EU countries rose by £1.2 billion (7.7%), while exports to the EU also rose by £0.3 billion (2.0%).

Figure 2: Exports of goods rose in both value and inflation-adjusted terms in October 2025

Imports and exports of goods, excluding precious metals, current prices and chained volume measures, seasonally adjusted, EU and non-EU, October 2022 to October 2025

Exports of goods to the United States, including precious metals, rose by £1.1 billion (27.0%) in October 2025 after two consecutive monthly falls (Figure 3). The value of goods exports to the United States have remained relatively low since the introduction of tariffs in April.

In October 2025, exports of chemicals rose by £0.6 billion because of higher imports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products. Exports of machinery and transport equipment also increased by £0.4 billion because of higher exports of cars. The rise in car exports may be linked to a phased recovery following a cyber incident, with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reporting a growth in car exports in October compared with September.

Imports of goods from the United States, including precious metals, increased by £2.2 billion (51.6%) in October 2025, primarily because of higher imports of material manufactures, which was linked to an increase in non-ferrous metals. Non-ferrous metals include silver, platinum and palladium bullion bars, which are components of precious metals. Trade in precious metals can be large and highly volatile, distorting underlying trends in trade in goods. In addition to precious metals, silver, platinum, palladium and other metals are widely used in industry, with silver surging in price in October because of strong demand from industrial users leading to shortage in supply according to the Financial Times.

Monthly data can be erratic; therefore, movements should be treated with caution.

More detailed estimates on the UK’s trade in goods with the United States can be found in our Trade in goods: country-by-commodity imports dataset and in our Trade in goods: country-by-commodity exports dataset. Our UK trade with the United States article provides a more detailed look at our trade in goods and services with the United States in 2024.

Figure 3: Imports and exports to the United States rose in October 2025

Goods imports from and exports to the United States, including precious metals, current prices, non-seasonally adjusted, October 2023 to October 2025

Silver, platinum and palladium bullion are components of precious metals and form part of the “material manufactures” commodity group. Trade in precious metals can be large and highly volatile, distorting underlying trends in trade in goods. We have added a “Material manufactures, excluding precious metals” series to our UK trade: goods and services publication tables and have used this series for the analysis in Section 4: Monthly trade in goods by commodity.

More details on the allocation of precious metals is provided in Section 12: Data sources and quality.

Goods imports

Imports from the EU increased by £0.3 billion (1.2%) in October 2025. This increase was primarily because of a £0.4 billion rise in imports of machinery and transport equipment, which was partially offset by small falls in imports of material manufactures (excluding precious metals) and food and live animals (Figure 4). The increase in imports of machinery and transport equipment was linked to higher imports of cars from Germany.

Imports from non-EU countries increased by £0.4 billion (1.9%) in October 2025. This increase was primarily because of a £1.3 billion rise in imports of material manufactures (excluding precious metals), which was partially offset by a £0.5 billion fall in imports of chemicals, £0.2 billion falls in imports of fuels and machinery and transport equipment. The increase in imports of materials manufactures resulted from higher imports of non-ferrous metals from the United States. The decrease in chemical imports was linked to lower imports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products from the United States and Switzerland, and inorganic chemicals from Canada.

Figure 4: Imports of material manufactures (excluding precious metals) from non-EU countries rose in October 2025

Changes in EU and non-EU goods imports by commodity group, excluding unspecified goods, current prices, seasonally adjusted, October 2025 compared with September 2025

Notes:

1. Material manufactures presented in this chart exclude silver, platinum and palladium bullion bars as these are components of precious metals. Trade in precious metals can be large and highly volatile, distorting underlying trends in trade in goods. 

Goods exports

Exports to the EU increased by £0.2 billion (1.7%) in October 2025. This increase was primarily because of a £0.2 billion rise in exports of machinery and transport equipment linked to higher exports of mechanical power generators (intermediate) to Spain (Figure 5).

Exports to non-EU countries increased by £1.3 billion (8.6%) in October 2025. This increase was because of £0.3 billion rises in exports of chemicals and machinery and transport equipment, a £0.2 billion rise in exports of material manufactures (excluding precious metals), and smaller increases in exports of most commodities. The rise in chemical exports was because of higher exports of both medicinal and pharmaceutical products and inorganic chemicals to the United States. The increase in exports of machinery and transport equipment was linked to higher exports of cars to the United States and Japan, as well as mechanical power generators (intermediate) to China.

Figure 5: Exports of chemicals and machinery and transport equipment to non-EU countries rose in October 2025

Changes in EU and non-EU goods exports by commodity group, excluding unspecified goods, current prices, seasonally adjusted, October 2025 compared with September 2025

Notes:

1. Material manufactures presented in this chart exclude silver, platinum and palladium bullion bars as these are components of precious metals. Trade in precious metals can be large and highly volatile, distorting underlying trends in trade in goods.

Early estimates suggest imports of services increased slightly by £0.1 billion (0.4%) in value terms in October 2025, while exports of services remained relatively unchanged when compared with the previous month (Figure 6). There was little difference between trade in services trends in value and inflation-adjusted terms.

Monthly figures for trade in services for October 2025 are estimated from Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2025 data, using time series and additional data sources. Early estimates of trade in services are revised in line with the National Accounts Revisions Policy. Our UK trade quality and methodology information (QMI) has more detail on how our trade in services statistics are compiled.

While the S&P Global UK Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) (PDF, 131KB) for October 2025 reported that there was a “solid upturn” in UK service sector activity, this was driven by increased domestic demand. The PMI Business Activity Index was 52.3, a distinct improvement on the 50.8, a five-month low seen in September. However, exports did not contribute to this expansion in output. New work from abroad decreased for the second month running, with “sluggish” demand and “fragile investment sentiment”.

Figure 6: Imports of services rose slightly in both value and inflation-adjusted terms in October 2025

Imports and exports of services, current prices and chained volume measures, seasonally adjusted, October 2022 to October 2025

Notes:

1. Monthly figures for trade in services for October 2025 are forecast using time series and additional data sources. Early estimates of trade in services are revised in line with the National Accounts Revisions Policy.

Total imports of goods increased by £1.0 billion (0.7%) in the three months to October 2025, compared with the three months to July 2025 (Table 2). This was because goods imports from non-EU countries increased by £0.6 billion (0.8%), and goods imports from the EU also increased by £0.4 billion (0.5%).

Total exports of goods decreased by £3.0 billion (3.1%) in the three months to October 2025. This fall was because goods exports to the EU decreased by £2.0 billion (4.3%), and goods exports to non-EU countries also decreased by £1.0 billion (2.0%).

For trade in services in the three months to October 2025, International Trade in Services (ITIS) survey figures are forecast using time series data. This forecast is combined with additional data sources, to estimate trade in services totals. We plan to revise this forecast in our gross domestic product (GDP) quarterly national accounts bulletin, and in our Balance of payments bulletin, both publishing on 22 December, using ITIS survey data.

Early estimates indicate that imports of services decreased by around £0.1 billion (0.1%) in the three months to October 2025, compared with the three months to July 2025, while exports of services also fell by an estimated £0.1 billion (0.1%).

The total goods and services trade deficit, excluding precious metals, widened by £4.0 billion to £6.7 billion in the three months to October 2025 compared with the three months to July 2025 (Figure 7). Imports rose by £0.9 billion over this period, while exports fell by £3.1 billion. When removing the effect of inflation, the total trade deficit, excluding precious metals, widened by £4.5 billion to £16.4 billion.

The trade in goods deficit in value terms, excluding precious metals, widened by £3.9 billion to £60.5 billion in the three months to October 2025, as goods imports rose while exports fell. The trade in services surplus is estimated to have remained unchanged at £53.8 billion in the three months to October compared with the three months to July 2025.

Explore the 2024 trade in goods data using our interactive tools. Our data break down UK trade in goods with 236 countries by 122 commodities.

Use our map to get a better understanding of what goods the UK traded with a country. Select a country by hovering over it (desktop only) or use the drop-down menu.

Notes:

1. For more information about our methods and how we compile these statistics, see our Trade in goods, country-by-commodity experimental data: 2011 to 2016 article. Users should note that the data published alongside this release are official statistics and no longer in development.
2. These data are our best estimate of these bilateral UK trade flows. Users should note that alternative estimates are available, in some cases, through the statistical agencies for bilateral countries or through central databases, such as United Nations (UN) Comtrade.
3. This interactive map denotes country boundaries in accordance with statistical classifications set out in Appendix 4 of the Balance of Payments (BoP) Vademecum (PDF, 4.2MB) and do not represent the UK policy on disputed territories.

Download the data

You can also explore the 2024 trade in goods data by commodity, such as car exports to the EU, and UK tea or coffee imports. Select a commodity from the drop-down menu or select the levels with your digit or cursor to explore the data

Notes:

1. For more information about our methods and how we compile these statistics, see our Trade in goods, country-by-commodity experimental data: 2011 to 2016 article. Users should note that the data published alongside this release are official statistics and no longer in development.
2. These data are our best estimate of these bilateral UK trade flows. Users should note that alternative estimates are available, in some cases, through the statistical agencies for bilateral countries or through central databases, such as United Nations (UN) Comtrade.
3. These interactive charts denote country boundaries in accordance with statistical classifications set out within Appendix 4 of the Balance of Payments (BoP) Vademecum (PDF, 4.2MB) and does not represent the UK policy on disputed territories.

Download the data

Download the data

In accordance with our National Accounts Revisions Policy, the data in this release have not been revised and only include new data for October 2025.

HMRC error affecting mineral fuels and oils

We have been made aware of a data error in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Overseas Trade Statistics (OTS), which are also an input for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) trade in goods data. This error relates to the March 2024 reference period onwards and has resulted in some fuels exports data being erroneously excluded.

In the HMRC data, this affects UK exports of the commodities in Chapter 27: Mineral fuels and oils, to EU and non-EU countries. Further details are available on the HMRC website. This error will affect Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) 3: Fuels in ONS UK trade data.

While HMRC have notified us of this data error, additional processing and analysis needs to be completed by the ONS to further quantify the impact on our UK trade outputs. Early ONS analysis suggests that, on a current price and non-seasonally adjusted basis, this impact represents approximately 1.3% of total trade in goods exports in 2024 (equivalent to approximately £5 billion), and 2.0% of total trade in goods exports in 2025 (equivalent to approximately £6.5 billion). This is equivalent to 0.6% of total trade exports in 2024 (including both goods and services) and 0.8% in 2025.

Further analysis and detailed assessment are required to determine impacts on a chained volume measures and seasonally adjusted basis, as well as potential onward impacts to gross domestic product (GDP). While HMRC data form an important part of our UK trade estimates, the ONS uses a range of other data sources. Our estimates for the GDP first quarterly estimate are always subject to revision, as more data become available, and any potential impact on GDP will be considered alongside other revisions.

The ONS is currently undertaking further processing and will correct the data used in UK trade estimates in our Balance of payments and GDP quarterly national accounts releases scheduled for 22 December 2025, and in our UK trade: November 2025 release scheduled for 15 January 2026. This is the earliest practical opportunity, in line with the National Accounts Revision Policy.

Users are advised to exercise caution when using the fuel exports data and associated aggregates. Imports data are not affected.

As these are indicative impacts, which we are still working through our systems, we would recommend users continue to use the headline trade figures included in this release, as our current best estimates of UK trade.

Precious metals methods improvement

As part of our Methods improvements for Blue Book and Pink Book 2025, we implemented improvements to the way we record trade in precious metals. We removed the double counting of some precious metals bars and included previously under-recorded non-monetary gold that is not in bar form.

This methods improvement was implemented for all countries back to January 1997 in our UK trade: August 2025 release. However, because of a processing error, these improvements were not fully applied to a small number of countries for 2024 and 2025 in our GDP quarterly national accounts, UK: April to June 2025 release or in our Balance of payments, UK: April to June 2025 release published on 30 September 2025.

Estimates for Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2024 to Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2025 have been updated in our GDP first quarterly estimate, UK: July to September 2025 release. These corrected estimates have been completed exceptionally outside of the usual National Accounts Revisions Policy to provide consistency between GDP and UK trade data.

When incorporating these corrected trade estimates into GDP, the processing included running seasonal adjustment that was applied to all commodities back to Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2024. While only non-ferrous metals data were corrected, the inclusion of full July and August 2025 data in processing resulted in slightly revised seasonally adjusted series across all other commodities. The resulting revisions affect both current prices and chained volume measures from Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2024 to Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2025. The scale for these revisions can be seen in Table 3.

Chained volume measures

Chained volume measures (CVMs) are a "real" measure in that they have had the effect of inflation removed to measure the change in volume between consecutive periods, fixing the prices of goods and services in one period (known as the base year, which is 2022 for trade).

Current price measures

Current price estimates (CPs) measure the actual price paid for goods or services and are not adjusted for inflation. Unless otherwise stated, all current price data are provided in £ million and are seasonally adjusted.

Inflation

Inflation is the change in the average price level of goods and services over a period of time.

Implied deflators

An implied deflator (IDEF) shows the implied change in average prices for the respective components of the trade balance, for example, the IDEF for imports will show the average price movement for imports.

Precious metals and non-monetary gold

Precious metals include non-monetary gold, silver bullion, platinum bullion and palladium bullion. Non-monetary gold forms the majority of the commodity group "unspecified goods" and is the technical term for gold bullion not owned by central banks. Silver, platinum and palladium bullion form part of the "material manufactures" commodity group. This change is part of our Methods improvements for Blue Book and Pink Book 2025.

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.

The UK leaving the EU and the subsequent transition period, along with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, supply chain disruption and global recession, have caused higher levels of volatility in trade statistics in recent years. The monthly analysis shows short-term trade movements, but it is important to note that monthly data can be erratic, and therefore movements should be treated with caution.

Data collection changes

Since the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, the arrangements for how the UK trades with the EU changed.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) implemented some data collection changes following Brexit, which affected statistics on UK trade in goods with the EU. We have made adjustments to our estimates of goods imports from the EU in 2021 and 2022 to account for these changes, however, a structural break remains in the full time series for goods imports from and exports to the EU from January 2021.

We therefore advise caution when interpreting and drawing conclusions from these statistics. Our Impact of trade in goods data collection changes on UK trade statistics: summary of adjustments and the structural break from 2021 article provides more detail.

Data sources

Data from HMRC make up over 90% of trade in goods value and are the main source for this release. Data from the quarterly International Trade in Services (ITIS) Survey make up over 50% of trade in services data. View our UK trade quality and methodology information (QMI) for more detail.

Data from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) are the main source for travel services, historically making up around 8% of total imports. The survey has now fully resumed following the suspension in 2020. View our UK trade QMI for more detail.

Unless otherwise specified, data within this bulletin are in current prices and have not been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation. In line with international standards, our headline trade statistics contain the UK's exports and imports of non-monetary gold. More information can be found in our National Accounts article: A brief explanation of non-monetary gold in national accounts.

Method

Trade is measured through both exports and imports of goods and services. Data are supplied by over 30 sources, including several administrative sources, with HMRC being the largest for trade in goods.

Our UK trade figures are produced using country of dispatch, which records imports as coming from the country dispatching the shipments. However, trade figures can also be produced using country of origin, as is used by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). Users should be aware of the different accounting methods used and the resulting differences across trade figures.

Monthly trade in services data are taken from quarterly trade in services data and are split across the months within that quarter through estimation. In months where we have a full quarter's data, we revise previous estimates of monthly values within that quarter.

View more detailed information about the methods used to produce UK trade statistics in our UK trade methodology.

Allocation of precious metals

Our headline trade statistics contain the UK's exports and imports of non-monetary gold, in line with international standards. More information can be found in our National Accounts article: A brief explanation of non-monetary gold in national accounts.

As part of our Methods improvements for Blue Book and Pink Book 2025, we have implemented improvements to the way we record trade in precious metals in this release. We have removed the double counting of some precious metals bars and included previously under-recorded non-monetary gold that is not in bar form.

Precious metals include non-monetary gold, silver bullion, platinum bullion and palladium bullion. Non-monetary gold forms the majority of the commodity group "unspecified goods" and is the technical term for gold bullion not owned by central banks. Silver, platinum and palladium bullion form part of the "material manufactures" commodity group.

We have added a “Material manufactures, excluding precious metals” series to our UK trade: goods and services publication tables from the UK Trade: October 2025 release onwards. These data series have been included for presentational purposes, and are available at EU and non-EU level, in current prices and are available back to January 1997.

We are working towards including these series in chained volume measures in a future release.

We are continuing to review our methodology for the allocation of precious metals, to ensure that we capture all trade of non-ferrous metals where these commodities are traded as a financial asset.

Pausing of Producer Prices publications

Following the restart of our monthly business prices publications on 22 October 2025, in this release, business prices data with corrected chain linking methods and updated historic weights have been used in our monthly trade dataset for Producer Price Indices (PPI), Import Prices Indices (IPI), Export Price Indices (EPI), and Service Producer Price Indices (SPPI) for July, August and September 2025.

These updates to business prices data will be incorporated into UK trade estimates in line with our National Accounts Revisions Policy.

Further information on the chain linking error and the impact of methodological changes in the producer prices dataset are detailed in our Impact of correction to chain-linking methodology used in Producer Price Indices and Services Producer Price Indices: October 2025 article published on 22 October 2025.

Strengths and limitations

National Statistics designation status

The UK Statistics Authority suspended the National Statistics designation of UK trade (PDF, 72.9KB) on 14 November 2014. We have responded to all of the specific requirements of the Office for Statistics Regulation's (OSR's) reassessment of UK trade. As part of our engagement with the OSR team, we are sharing our continuous improvement and development plans to support UK trade statistics regaining accredited official statistics status. We welcome feedback on our new trade statistics, developments, and future plans by email to trade@ons.gov.uk.

Trade asymmetries

Asymmetries can be caused by a range of conceptual and measurement variations between the estimation practices of different countries. Statistical agencies are likely to have different source data, estimation methods, and methodological, geographical and definitional differences. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publishes more information on UK trade asymmetries. We publish analysis on trade in services asymmetries in our Asymmetries in trade data articles.

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