Welsh international goods trade: January to December 2025 (headline data)

The data in this report are provisional estimates for January to December 2025 with data revisions and corrections going back to Quarter 1 2024. HMRC pre-announced significant unscheduled corrections to UK overseas trade in goods statistics in November 2025, specifically affecting ‘Oil’ (SITC 33) ^{[footnote 1]} and ‘Gas’ (SITC 34) ^{[footnote 2]} exports. These revisions have now been applied and increased reported 'Oil' and ‘Gas’ export values and volumes, which in turn impacted headline totals for exports and overall trade (see Notes). Import figures did not change significantly. Data will be revised routinely over the next 18 months to account for late returns.

Data covers the value (in current prices) and volume of goods exports and imports.

It is important to consider the impact of global economic events on the value of trade as well as inflationary pressures pushing up current prices of products.

The following analysis is a comparison between the latest year of data (year ending December 2025) and the previous year (year ending December 2024). Data for the year ending December 2024 have been revised (see Notes). 

Total trade (exports + imports)

• The total trade value was £39.5 billion, down £0.7 billion (1.7%) from £40.2 billion.
• The total trade value less ‘Oil’ for Wales was £32.2 billion, up £0.3 billion (1.0%) from £31.9 billion. 
• The total trade volume was 23.8 billion kg, a decrease of 0.3 billion kg (1.3%) from 24.2 billion kg. 
• The total trade volume less ‘Oil’ for Wales was 8.3 billion kg, a decrease of 1.1 billion kg (11.5%) from 9.4 billion kg.

Exports

• All UK countries experienced an increase in the value of exports, except for Scotland which decreased.
• The value of goods exports for Wales was £19.2 billion, up £0.3 billion (1.4%) from £18.9 billion. This was largely driven by a £0.7 billion increase in the value of ‘Power generating machinery & equipment’ exports. 
• The volume of goods exports for Wales was 7.8 billion kg, an increase of 0.3 billion kg (4.6%) from 7.5 billion kg. This was largely driven by a 0.6 billion kg increase in the volume of ‘Oil’ exports. 
• The value of goods exports for the UK was £358.6 billion, up £1.2 billion (0.3%) from £357.4 billion.
• The volume of goods exports for the UK was 123.2 billion kg, a decrease of 2.9 billion kg (2.3%) from 126.1 billion kg.
• The EU continued to make up most of the Welsh export values, accounting for 55.9%, whilst the EU made up 49.0% of UK export values.
• Export values to EU countries decreased by £0.1 billion (0.6%) to £10.7 billion from £10.8 billion. Export values to non-EU countries increased by £0.3 billion (4.1%) to £8.5 billion from £8.1 billion.
• The top 3 products by value exported from Wales were ‘Power Generating Machinery and Equipment’ (£4.3 billion), ‘Oil’ (£2.5 billion) and ‘Other transport equipment’ (£2.5 billion). These products accounted for 48.7% of Welsh goods exports. 
• The top 3 countries by value that Wales exported to were United States (£2.7 billion), Germany (£2.6 billion) and Ireland (£2.3 billion). These countries accounted for 39.6% of Welsh goods exports. 

Exports less ‘Oil’

• The value of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for Wales was £16.6 billion, an increase of £0.4 billion (2.7%) from £16.2 billion.
• The volume of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for Wales was 2.7 billion kg, a decrease of 0.2 billion kg (7.4%) from 3.0 billion kg.
• The value of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for the UK was £336.3 billion, an increase of £6.5 billion (2.0%) from £329.2 billion.
• The volume of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for the UK was 72.9 billion kg, an increase of 0.7 billion kg (0.9%) from 72.2 billion kg.

Imports

• All UK countries experienced an increase in the value of imports, except for Wales which decreased.
• The value of goods imports for Wales was £20.4 billion, down £0.9 billion (4.4%) from £21.3 billion. This was largely driven by a £0.8 billion decline in the value of ‘Oil’ imports.
• The volume of goods imports for Wales was 16.0 billion kg, a decrease of 0.7 billion kg (3.9%) from 16.7 billion kg. 
• The value of goods imports for the UK was £601.9 billion, up £21.4 billion (3.7%) from £580.5 billion.
• The volume of goods imports for the UK was 268.7 billion kg, a decrease of 1.4 billion kg (0.5%) from 270.1 billion kg.
• The EU accounted for 37.9% of Welsh import values compared with 52.8% of UK import values.
• Import values from EU countries decreased by £0.1 billion (0.9%) to £7.7 billion from £7.8 billion. Import values from non-EU countries decreased by £0.9 billion (6.4%) to £12.7 billion from £13.5 billion.
• The top 3 products by value imported into Wales were ‘Oil’ (£4.8 billion), ‘Power Generating Machinery and Equipment’ (£3.8 billion) and ‘Electric machinery, apparatus & appliances’ ^{[footnote 3]} (£1.0 billion). These products accounted for 47.1% of Welsh goods imports. 
• The top 3 countries by value that Wales imported from were United States (£3.9 billion), China (£1.8 billion) and Netherlands (£1.3 billion). These countries accounted for 33.8% of Welsh goods imports. 

Imports less ‘Oil’

• The value of goods imports less ‘Oil’ for Wales was £15.6 billion, a decrease of £0.1 billion (0.8%) from £15.7 billion.
• The volume of goods imports less ‘Oil’ for Wales was 5.5 billion kg, a decrease of 0.9 billion kg (13.4%) from 6.4 billion kg.
• The value of goods imports less ‘Oil’ for the UK was £563.5 billion, an increase of £29.6 billion (5.5%) from £533.9 billion.
• The volume of goods imports less ‘Oil’ for the UK was 187.2 billion kg, an increase of 2.6 billion kg (1.4%) from 184.7 billion kg.

The unscheduled corrections that were previously pre-announced (HMRC) have now been applied to the UK overseas trade in goods statistics and the Regional trade statistics from HMRC. The result of these corrections saw a rise in export values and volumes of ‘Oil’ (SITC33) and ‘Gas’ (SITC 34). The greatest impacts were in London, Wales, and Unallocated-Known. Export values for Wales for 2024 increased by 7.9%, which is £1.4 billion more than the previously published annual 2024 total of £17.5 billion. The £1.4 billion increase is mostly due to an increase in ‘Oil’ (£1.4 billion), with a smaller increase in ‘Gas’ (£17.5 million).  For January to September 2025, the increase was 12.1% or £1.5 billion more than the previously published total of £12.7 billion. The £1.5 billion increase is mostly due to an increase in ‘Oil’ (£1.5 billion), with a smaller increase in ‘Gas’ (£15.6 million). 

Some of the trade data included in this report may get revised by HMRC as part of their routine revisions to the data set. The latest data will be available on UK Trade Info (HMRC).

Because of changes to the way in which the data is collected, some small value trade that was previously allocated to countries and regions may now be reported under the ‘Unallocated-unknown’ category. This has led to a likely reduction in the UK to EU export values, and total export values for Wales (and other regions) from January 2021 onwards. More detailed notes of these effects can be read in the HMRC Commentary on these statistics.

In our recent consultation on statistical outputs, we proposed to cease publishing the annual Welsh international goods trade report (but continue with the short quarterly summary of key points for Wales). We have therefore paused the publication of the annual release whilst we analyse the consultation responses. Users can continue to access the most accurate and timely data (which incorporates all revisions) through the quarterly headlines and interactive dashboard.

The data above relates to international goods trade. For international trade in services, the latest official statistics in development (ONS) (2023) produced by the Office for National Statistics suggest that services make up approximately 30% of total exports in Wales, and 20% of total imports. 

Note that the methods differ between HMRC and the ONS statistics.  More detail is available on these key differences in the HMRC ‘Overseas trade in goods statistics methodology and quality report’ (section 8.4).

Main results and business counts are published quarterly and are available on HMRC’s UK Trade Info Pages and UK trade in goods statistics (HMRC), alongside our own interactive dashboard. 

[1] ‘Petroleum, Petroleum Products and Related Materials’ (SITC33)

[2] ‘Gas, natural and manufactured’ (SITC34)

[3] ‘Electric machinery, apparatus & appliances & electric parts thereof not elsewhere specified’ (SITC77)

Trade Analysis
Email: stats.trade@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099