Welsh international goods trade: April 2025 to March 2026 (headline data)

The data in this report are provisional estimates for April 2025 to March 2026 with data revisions going back to quarter 1 2025 (January to March 2025). Data will be revised routinely over the next 18 months to account for late returns of customs declarations.

Data covers the value (in current prices), and volumes, 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.

From January 2022, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) implemented a change in data collection methods affecting trade in goods data on imports from the EU into Great Britain. This created a break in the time series; users should take care when making comparisons with quarters and years prior to this.

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

Total trade (exports + imports)

• The total trade value was £39.5 billion, down £1.0 billion (2.6%) from £40.6 billion.
• The total trade value less ‘Oil’ ^{[footnote 1}] was £32.2 billion, down £0.3 billion (1.0%) from £32.5 billion.
• The total trade volume was 23.8 billion kg, an increase of 0.2 billion kg (0.9%) from 23.6 billion kg.
• The total trade volume less ‘Oil’ was 8.1 billion kg, down 0.9 billion kg (10.0%) from 9.0 billion kg.

Exports

• The value of goods exports for Wales was £19.1 billion, down £0.1 billion (0.5%) from £19.2 billion. This was largely driven by a £0.2 billion decline in the value of ‘Oil’ exports.
• The volume of goods exports for Wales was 7.6 billion kg, a decrease of 43.2 million kg (0.6%) from 7.6 billion kg.
• The value of goods exports for the UK was £360.5 billion, down £4.4 billion (1.2%) from £364.9 billion.
• The volume of goods exports for the UK was 120.4 billion kg, a decrease 8.1 billion kg (6.3%) from 128.4 billion kg.
• England and Northern Ireland experienced an increase in the value of exports, whereas Wales and Scotland experienced a decrease.
• The EU continued to make up most of the Welsh export values, accounting for 57.3%. Whilst the EU made up 49.2% of UK export values.
• Export values to EU countries increased by £0.2 billion (2.0%) to £11.0 billion from £10.7 billion. Export values to Non-EU countries decreased by £0.3 billion (3.7%) to £8.2 billion from £8.5 billion.
• The top 3 products by value exported from Wales were ‘Power generating machinery & equipment’ (£4.2 billion), ‘Other transport equipment’ (£2.6 billion) and ‘Oil’ (£2.4 billion). These products accounted for 48.3% of Welsh goods exports.
• The top 3 countries that Wales exported to by value were United States (£2.7 billion), Germany (£2.7 billion) and Ireland (£2.3 billion). These countries accounted for 40.5% of Welsh goods exports.

Exports less ‘Oil’

• The value of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for Wales was £16.7 billion, an increase of £0.1 billion (0.9%) from £16.5 billion.
• The volume of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for Wales was 2.6 billion kg, a decrease of 0.3 billion kg (11.1%) from 3.0 billion kg.
• The value of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for the UK was £340.4 billion, an increase of £3.9 billion (1.2%) from £336.5 billion.
• The volume of goods exports less ‘Oil’ for the UK was 73.4 billion kg, an increase of 1.7 billion kg (2.3%) from 71.8 billion kg.

Imports

• 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 £0.5 billion decline in the value of ‘Oil’ imports.
• The volume of goods imports for Wales was 16.3 billion kg, an increase of 0.2 billion kg (1.5%) from 16.0 billion kg.
• The value of goods imports for the UK was £613.2 billion, up £23.1 billion (3.9%) from £590.1 billion.
• The volume of goods imports for the UK was 267.0 billion kg, a decrease of 6.9 billion kg (2.5%) from 273.9 billion kg.
• All UK countries experienced an increase in the value of imports, except for Wales which decreased.
• The EU accounted for 38.0% of Welsh import values compared with 52.4% of UK import values.
• Import values from EU countries decreased by £0.2 billion (2.7%) to £7.8 billion from £8.0 billion. Import values from Non-EU countries decreased by £0.7 billion (5.4%) to £12.6 billion from £13.4 billion.
• The top 3 products by value imported into Wales were ‘Oil’ (£4.8 billion), ‘Power generating machinery & equipment’ (£3.7 billion) and ‘Electric machinery, apparatus & appliances’ ^{[footnote 2]} (£1.0 billion). These products accounted for 46.8% of Welsh goods imports.
• The top 3 countries that Wales imported from by value were United States (£4.0 billion), China (£1.8 billion) and France (£1.3 billion). These countries accounted for 34.4% of Welsh goods imports.

Imports less ‘Oil’

• The value of goods imports less oil for Wales was £15.6 billion, a decrease of £0.5 billion (2.8%) from £16.0 billion.
• The volume of goods imports less oil for Wales was 5.5 billion kg, a decrease of 0.6 billion kg (9.4%) from 6.1 billion kg.
• The value of goods imports less oil for the UK was £575.4 billion, an increase of £30.9 billion (5.7%) from £544.5 billion.
• The volume of goods imports less oil for the UK was 186.5 billion kg, a decrease of 1.8 billion kg (0.9%) from 188.3 billion kg.The following analysis is the comparison between the latest year of data (year ending March 2026) and the previous year (year ending March 2025)

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 our own international trade dashboard as well as UK Trade Info (HMRC).

Because of changes to the way in which the data is collected since EU Exit, 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 Full Commentary on these statistics.

This report includes scheduled revisions for previously published data.

Following our recent consultation on statistical outputs, we have stopped the annual Welsh international goods trade but will continue with this quarterly summary of the main points for Wales. 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 (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 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] ‘Electric machinery, apparatus & appliances & electric parts thereof not elsewhere specified’ (SITC77)

Trade Analysis
Email: stats.trade@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099

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