Reacting to the latest ONS trade data, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:
“September’s UK trade data showed positive signs for both imports and exports across multiple sectors, but concerns remain on how sustained this is. August was a poor month and consistent growth across the quarter has been elusive.
“In Q3, overall UK exports rose by just 0.5% in value, with goods exports down and stronger services exports counterbalancing this to generate the modest growth. Imports showed a stronger trend across the quarter with a 3.5% rise in goods and a 2% rise in services.
“With cost pressures on business still rising, the government must focus on maximising benefits from the UK’s trade deals with key overseas markets. It must also lean further into private sector initiatives, like the BCC’s Trade Accelerator.
“A lot will also rest on the success of the UK-EU Leaders Summit next week. Importers and exporters will want it to lower costs and red tape on food checks, link emissions trading schemes and agree a youth experience deal.”
Detailed Analysis:
Month-on-month
The volume of UK goods exports rose by 5.5% in September. There was a 4.1% rise in EU sales, with a broad spread of increases in chemicals, machinery and transport, and manufactured goods. Goods export growth to the rest of the world was even stronger at 6.6%. This included significant increases in machinery and transport equipment, fuels, and various manufactured goods.
The amount of goods imported increased by 3% in September. There was a 3% rise in orders from the EU, led by chemicals and material manufactured goods. Goods imports from the rest of the world rose must faster at 9%. This was due to higher purchases of machinery and transport equipment, fuels, miscellaneous manufactured goods and chemicals.
UK services exports rose by a further 0.9% in volume during September. Services imports were up 1.1%.
The Third Quarter
Total UK exports rose by 0.5% in value compared to Q2, with a 3% increase in imports over the same period.
However, goods exports fell by 0.4%. This was due to a 4.5% fall in orders from the EU, driven by lower demand for fuels and machinery (including aircraft). Goods sales to the rest of the world performed much better, with a 3.4% increase in machinery, transport and chemicals (including medicines and pharmaceuticals).
Imports of goods rose by 3.5% in value compared with Q2. There was a modest 0.6% rise in purchases from the EU driven by trade in chemicals (including medicines and pharmaceuticals) and material manufactures (including metals). Meanwhile there was a 6.8% increase in imports from the rest of the world. This was powered by more machinery and transport, including Chinese cars and US aircraft, as well as chemicals and manufactured goods.
UK services exports were estimated to have risen by 1.1% in value compared with Q2 2026. This was driven by increases in demand for financial services and business advisory services.
UK services imports were estimated to have risen by 2% in value compared with Q2 2026. This was led by rises in other business services, financial and computing services.
More detail on the ONS data can be found here.