£8.3bn fall in goods exports means UK’s annual trade figures flatter to deceive, says Parcelhero
At £923.3bn, the UK’s total export results for 2025 seem healthy at first glance, representing a 3.5% increase over 2024. But UK goods exports were only £377.5bn, down -2.2%. That leaves services exports doing a lot of the heavy lifting, warns Parcelhero.
The UK’s annual trade figures for 2025 have been released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and they present a mixed bag of results for exports, cautions the international delivery expert Parcelhero.
Superficially, a £31bn increase (3.5%) to £923.3bn in the value of the UK’s total exports is encouraging news, says the global parcel price comparison site. When removing the effect of inflation, total annual exports increased by £17.9bn (2.0%) to £902.8bn, which was still a positive result.
However, looking at goods alone, exports were down by £8.3bn against 2024, a -2.2% fall to £377.5bn (£379.7bn including precious metals).
Parcelhero’s head of consumer research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., says: ‘No one was expecting 2025 to be a golden year for Britain’s exporters. President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, announced in April last year, impacted sales to the UK’s largest single nation market, while exports to the EU continued to struggle following the end of the transition period.
‘However, without a strong showing from the UK’s services such as finance, management consultancy, IT and insurance, 2025 would have been a poor year for UK exports. Britain’s global services, worth £545.8bn last year – a £39.3bn (7.8%) rise – made all the difference.
Britain’s main goods exports last year were:
- Mechanical power generators
- Medicinal & pharmaceutical products
- Cars
- Crude oil
- Aircraft
The UK’s main goods export markets were:
- USA
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Ireland
- France
‘Looking at where this leaves UK PLC in terms of our trade balance, Britain’s total annual trade in goods and services deficit widened by £4.1bn to £21.8bn in 2025. Looking at goods in particular, while the UK exported £377.5bn of goods, we imported a hefty £603.1bn of goods, leading to a sizeable £225.6bn deficit in goods alone.
December 2025
‘Looking at the latest monthly ONS trade results for December 2025 alone, the picture for UK goods exports was also less than rosy.
‘In December, the value of Britain’s goods exports fell by £1bn (-3.2%) compared to November, with falls in exports to both EU and non-EU countries. Interestingly, however, exports of goods to the US rose by £0.1bn (2.5%) due to an increase in chemicals sales. Even so, the ONS warns starkly: “The value of goods exports to the United States have remained relatively low since the introduction of tariffs in April.”
Q4 2025
‘Finally, the ONS has also released the results for Q4 2025 (October-December). Here again, things were not great. The UK’s total exports of goods decreased by £1.6bn (-1.7%) against Q3 2025 (July-September). This fall was primarily because goods exports to the EU decreased by £1.4bn (-3.1%), while goods exports to non-EU countries decreased by £0.2bn (-0.4%).
‘Focusing on the USA, the ongoing impact of new tariffs and the repeal of its de minimis rules means UK exporters are inevitably looking at a period of continuing volatility. Nonetheless, the US remains Parcelhero’s biggest individual overseas market and a lucrative one for those exporters prepared to adapt to its challenges. Live information on US courier services, as well as plenty of advice on shipping to America, can be seen at https://www.parcelhero.com/en-gb/international-courier-services/usa-parcel-delivery