Welsh international goods trade: July 2025 to June 2026 (headline data)

The data in this report are provisional estimates for July 2025 to June 2026, with data revisions going back to January 2025. Data will be revised routinely over the next 18 months to account for late returns of customs declarations.

The data covers the value (in current prices) and volume of international 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. Comparisons over time should therefore be treated with caution due to revisions, inflation (current prices), and global market volatility.

The following analysis is the comparison between the latest year of data (year ending June 2026) and the previous year (year ending June 2025).

Total trade (exports + imports)

• The total trade value was £41.6 billion, up £2.0 billion (5.1%) from £39.6 billion.
• The total trade value less ‘Oil’ ^{[footnote 1]} was £33.2 billion, up £1.0 billion (3.2%) from £32.2 billion.
• The total trade volume was 23.6 billion kg, an increase of 0.8 billion kg (3.4%) from 22.8 billion kg.
• The total trade volume less ‘Oil’ was 8.0 billion kg, down 0.4 billion kg (4.8%) from 8.4 billion kg.

Exports

• The value of goods exports for Wales was £20.0 billion, up £1.0 billion (5.3%) from £19.0 billion. This was largely driven by a £0.3 billion increase in the value of ‘Oil’ exports and a £0.3 billion increase in the value of ‘other transport equipment’ exports.
• The volume of goods exports for Wales was 7.5 billion kg, a decrease of 0.1 billion kg (0.7%) from 7.5 billion kg.
• The value of goods exports for the UK was £368.5 billion, up £5.7 billion (1.6%) from £362.8 billion.
• The volume of goods exports for the UK was 117.7 billion kg, down 10.8 billion kg (8.4%) from 128.5 billion kg.
• All UK countries experienced an increase in the value of exports, except for Scotland which decreased.
• The EU continued to make up most of the Welsh export values, accounting for 58.3%. Whilst the EU made up 49.4% of UK export values.
• Export values to EU countries increased by £1.1 billion (10.5%) to £11.7 billion from £10.5 billion. Export values to Non-EU countries decreased by £0.1 billion (1.1%) to £8.3 billion from £8.4 billion.
• The top 3 products by value exported from Wales were ‘Power generating machinery & equipment’ (£4.3 billion), ‘Other transport equipment’ (£3.0 billion) and ‘Oil’ (£2.8 billion). These products accounted for 50.3% of Welsh goods exports.
• The top 3 countries that Wales exported to by value were Germany (£3.0 billion),United States (£2.9 billion) and Ireland (£2.5 billion). These countries accounted for 41.8% of Welsh goods exports.

Exports less ‘Oil’

• The value of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for Wales was £17.2 billion, up £0.7 billion (4.1%) from £16.5 billion.
• The volume of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for Wales was 2.5 billion kg, a decrease of 0.4 billion kg (12.9%) from 2.9 billion kg.
• The value of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for the UK was £347.1 billion, up £10.8 billion (3.2%) from £336.3 billion.
• The volume of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for the UK was 73.4 billion kg, up 1.1 billion kg (1.6%) from 72.3 billion kg.

Imports

• The value of goods imports for Wales was £21.6 billion, up £1.0 billion (4.8%) from £20.6 billion. This was largely driven by a £0.6 billion increase in the value of ‘Oil’ imports.
• The volume of goods imports for Wales was 16.1 billion kg, an increase 0.8 billion kg (5.4%) from 15.3 billion kg.
• The value of goods imports for the UK was £626.7 billion, up £36.9 billion (6.2%) from £589.8 billion.
• The volume of goods imports for the UK was 265.7 billion kg, down 4.9 billion kg (1.8%) from 270.6 billion kg.
• All UK countries experienced an increase in the value of imports.
• The EU accounted for 37.4% of Welsh import values compared with 52.4% of UK import values.
• Import values from EU countries increased by £0.1 billion (1.3%) to £8.1 billion from £8.0 billion. Import values from Non-EU countries increased by £0.9 billion (7.0%) to £13.5 billion from £12.6 billion.
• The top 3 products by value imported from Wales were ‘Oil’ (£5.5 billion), ‘Power generating machinery & equipment’ (£3.9 billion) and ‘Electric machinery, apparatus & appliances’ ^{[footnote 2]} (£1.0 billion). These products accounted for 48.3% of Welsh goods imports.
• The top 3 countries that Wales imported from by value were United States (£4.5 billion), China (£1.8 billion) and France (£1.4 billion). These countries accounted for 35.6% of Welsh goods imports.

The following analysis shows the number of trading businesses in Wales that were active at any time in the year.

Trader counts: whole number method

Whole Number Method: A business counts as 1 in each region they have employees. This represents the actual count of businesses in any region. However, it will mean the sum of the business counts for each region will be greater than that for the UK as a whole.

The number of exporters (whole number method) decreased between 2021 and 2025. The number of importers (whole number method) increased between 2021 and 2023 then decreased to 2025.

Exporter counts in Q2 2026 (3,054) are broadly similar to Q2 2025 (3,076). Importer counts in Q2 2026 (7,590) have decreased from Q2 2025 (8,052).

Trader counts: proportion method

Proportion Method: Business counts are subdivided into fractions based on their proportion of their employees in each region. Each business counts as 1 in the UK, subdivided across all regions in which they have employees.

The number of exporters (proportion method) generally decreased between 2021 and 2025. The number of importers (proportion method) increased between 2021 and 2023 then decreased to 2025.

Exporter counts in Q2 2026 (2,015) have decreased from Q2 2025 (2,056). Importer counts in Q2 2026 (6,242) have decreased from Q2 2025 (6,715).

HMRC may revise trade data as part of its routine updates. The latest figures are available on our own International trade dashboard and UK Trade Info (HMRC).

Following EU Exit there were changes to how imports, exports and business count data is collected. The changes caused a break in the time series for exports and business counts data from January 2021, and imports data from January 2022. Comparisons with earlier periods should be made with caution.

Changes to the data collection also mean that more EU trade is recorded as ‘unallocated-unknown’. For more information see the HMRC methodology and quality information on these statistics.

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

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

[1] ‘Petroleum, petroleum products & related materials’

[2] ‘Electric Machinery, Apparatus and Appliances and Electric Parts Thereof not Elsewhere Specified’

Trade Analysis
Email: stats.trade@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099

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