Exports Snapshot: Full year 2019

Export statistics

In 2019, exports rose by 4.3% on the previous year, reaching a total of £23.6bn. The UK is now exporting 8.7% more (in value terms) to non-EU countries, lifting the share of total food and drink exports going to nonEU countries by 1.6pp.
Q4 exports increased by 8.3% (y-o-y) to £6.1bn, driven by a rise in exports to non-EU markets.
All of the UK’s top 10 products have seen an increase in value over the year, with pork and salmon seeing particularly high growth (exceeding 25%). In volume terms, wine is the only product to decline in 2019, while salmon and beef were significant sources of growth.
The UK’s food and drink trade deficit continued to shrink last year, and is now 3.0% smaller than it was in 2019, signalling a relative decline in dependence on imports.
Key impactors on UK food and drink exports analysed within this report include retaliatory tariffs imposed by the US in 2019, and the growing importance of Saudi Arabia as a market for branded good exports.
Scotland remains the largest exporter of food and drink among the UK’s regions and nations.

Exports Snapshot: Full Year 2019