Trade Balance (Hansard, 31 March 1999)

§ Mr. Wilson

[holding answer 26 March 1999]: The information is in the following tables. Figures for trade in goods have been provided on an Overseas Trade Statistics (OTS) basis. Figures for trade in services are on a Balance of Payments (BOP) basis. The main difference between trade on an OTS and BOP basis is that BOP figures exclude goods not changing ownership. In 1998 this resulted in a difference of less than 1 per cent. in the export values. Import figures on a BOP basis also exclude the cost of insurance and freight. In 1998 this resulted in a difference of just under 3 per cent. in the import values.

817W

UK balance of trade with the EU countries 1969–98
£ million, current prices
	Austria	Belgium/Luxembourg	Denmark	Finland	France	Germany	Greece
Balance of trade in goods and services
1988	-548	-474	-771	-930	-1,126	-8,406	-278
1989	-462	-628	-946	-883	-1,686	-9,342	-193
1990	-406	10	-801	-654	-1,570	-7,348	-152
1991	-278	527	-752	-616	-8	-3,482	-158
1992	-244	190	-694	-571	-1,659	-3,770	-110
1993	-172	583	-375	-655	-2,330	-3,573	21
1994	-78	628	-243	-884	-2,634	-4,353	-81
1995	169	741	76	-627	-2,182	-5,242	91
1996	125	413	3	-557	-1,704	-6,412	407
1997	-261	-450	71	-772	-3,110	-3,939	333
1998	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

	Ireland	Italy	Netherlands	Portugal	Spain	Sweden	EU total
Balance of trade in goods
1969	42	-12	-110	1	21	-31	-115
1970	39	-9	-81	1	13	-7	-92
1971	-6	-34	-100	-1	14	-24	-322
1972	24	-68	-165	-12	33	-107	-803
1973	84	-121	-307	-41	-4	-224	-1,824
1974	2	-212	-651	-50	-4	-200	-2,903
1975	-27	-243	-753	-44	21	-58	-2,769
1976	200	-276	-921	27	-6	-138	-2,829
1977	325	-556	-348	71	25	-66	-2,593
1978	422	-805	-266	29	-71	-168	-3,541
1979	862	-1,016	-381	-34	-188	-61	-4,228
1980	877	-401	449	56	-113	160	-183
1981	994	-604	105	33	-79	71	-1,105
1982	885	-713	128	48	-49	266	-2,537
1983	766	-918	337	-79	58	340	-4,044
1984	758	-907	11	-259	-351	484	-4,674
1985	814	-830	786	-256	-238	563	-3,730
1986	499	-1,210	-1,181	-298	117	-450	-11,137
1987	344	-1,071	-1,291	-148	75	-630	-11,941
1988	243	-1,645	-2,602	-103	268	-1,136	-16,663
1989	465	-2,060	-2,923	-122	359	-1,311	-18,640
1990	801	-1,146	-3,011	-146	868	-896	-12,958
1991	853	-245	-1,837	36	1,679	-696	-3,593
1992	693	-612	-1,396	-1	1,513	-841	-6,412
1993	785	-655	-974	117	1,134	-708	-6,105
1994	1,219	-736	-561	-36	1,426	-837	-6,330
1995	764	-366	851	5	1,770	-376	-4,144
1996	1,448	-795	1,090	17	1,711	-356	-4,401
1997	1,896	-1,434	1,468	-32	1,588	-292	-4,911
1998	1,673	-1,147	-624	-90	1,298	-22	-6,835
Balance of trade in services
1988	261	265	109	-277	-1,605	129	-1,793
1989	279	225	64	-252	-1,391	209	-1,862
1990	274	285	44	-251	-1,177	241	-1,972
1991	286	326	-13	-278	-1,181	239	-1,894
1992	354	384	37	-288	-1,301	326	-996
1993	358	345	114	-278	-1,659	324	-1,135
1994	584	231	33	-274	-2,107	297	1,763
1995	880	323	157	-339	-2,391	366	-813
1996	991	233	292	-322	-2,164	374	-588
1997	802	-56	598	-511	-2,604	435	-1,100
1998	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	-2,328
Balance of trade in goods and services
1988	504	-1,380	-2,493	-380	-1,337	-1,007	-18,456
1989	744	-1,835	-2,859	-374	-1,032	-1,102	-20,502
1990	1,075	-861	-2,967	-397	-309	-655	-14,930
1991	1,139	81	-1,850	-242	498	-457	-5,487
1992	1,047	-228	-1,359	-289	212	-515	-7,408
1993	1,143	-310	-860	-161	-525	-384	-7,240
1994	1,803	-505	-528	-310	-681	-540	-8,093
1995	1,644	-43	1,008	-334	-621	-10	-4,957

818W 819W

	Ireland	Italy	Netherlands	Portugal	Spain	Sweden	EU total
1996	2,439	-562	1,382	-305	-453	18	-4,989
1997	2,698	-1,490	2,066	-543	-1,016	143	-6,011
1998	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	-9,163

Note:

Figures for trade in goods are on an Overseas Trade Statistics (OTS) basis. Figures for trade in services are on a Balance of Payments (BOP) basis. Trade with EU institutions is included in the EU Total. Information on UK trade in services is only available from 1988.

Sources:

Monthly Review of External Trade Statistics (MRETS), ONS

UK Trade in Services, ONS

Annual Abstract of Statistics, ONS