The UK's total trade deficit in goods and services widened by £2.2bn to £13.8bn in the three months to January, the Office for National Statistics said in a report on Wednesday.
This period of trading activity has proved relatively stable since the first quarter of 2023. The trade deficit, particularly for goods, narrowed by £2.3 billion to £48.0 billion. On the services front, the surplus narrowed by £4.5 billion to £34.2 billion, driven by a significant decline in services exports.
January saw a £0.9 billion (2.0%) increase in the value of goods imports, driven by increased fuel imports from EU and non-EU countries. Despite recent disruptions to Red Sea shipping routes, these events had no impact on UK import figures for January. On the other hand, the country's merchandise exports fell by £0.1 billion (0.5%) over the same period. The main reason for this decline is the decline in exports to third countries.
